Post by Bracken Van Ryssen on Jun 8, 2015 9:39:55 GMT
Solihull Council have released a consultation on the completed Hurst Lane/Chester Road public realm development.
The works include:
Laura and myself did a site appraisal on Saturday, these are some of the points highlighted (in no particular order):
If anyone has any further comments, modifications or thoughts on the development I would be happy to add them on before I submit it as a formal response to the consultation.
The works include:
- Twenty additional short stay shopper/visitor parking spaces have been created, including two blue badge spaces.
- There is now an on-street loading area for delivery vehicles.
- A new cycle route has been put into place, along with new cycle parking stands.
- New seats for members of the public to use have been installed.
- New litter bins have been added to the area.
- A new signal controlled pedestrian/cycle crossing across Hurst Lane North is available for use.
- Various other improvements to public realm have been made (new grass verges, high quality block paving, tarmac footway surfacing).
- New trees have been planted in the area.
- Modern energy-efficient LED lamps have been installed in the area.
- New traffic signal systems have been installed at Chester Road/Hurst Lane Junction.
- Mini-roundabout junctions have been provided at Morrison’s store access point and at the Hazelhurst Road junction.
- A new replacement bus shelter has been provided.
Laura and myself did a site appraisal on Saturday, these are some of the points highlighted (in no particular order):
- Motor traffic speeds have reduced significantly but the volume is still very high. The narrower lanes and mini-roundabouts do appear to reduce traffic speeds, but the sheer volume of motor traffic still makes the carriageway unfriendly and difficult to cross (as a pedestrian). However, overall the scheme makes the area feel a lot more pleasant to travel along and less dominated by motor traffic, especially with the green buffers between the pedestrian paths and the main carriageway.
- The shared use cycle path on the Northwest side of the development is broken by a tricky and somewhat dangerous road crossing directly adjacent to the Farm Foods store, where bicycle users and pedestrians are required to give way to traffic from 3 different directions.
- The shared use cycle path is very narrow, especially considering high pedestrian traffic and need for two-way cycling, and there is no stated requirement for cars to give way to users on the path when exiting or entering the car parking on the other side of the path. This is extremely poor and dangerous design (one recorded near miss already) given the amount of space that the designers where given to work with. It is clear that car parking is seen as significantly more important than pedestrian and bicycle user safety in this section.
- The end of the shared use path and access to the service/cycling road, across Hazelhurst Riad, is of similarly poor design. To cross the road a dog-leg has been put in that requires bicycle users to make five separate 90 degree turns, on narrow pavements and avoiding multiple bollards, before being able to continue along the route.
- The pedestrian plaza in front of the housing block on the corner of Chester Road and Hurst Lane seems like a massive waste of space and paving and could be much enhanced by some greenery, benches and similar.
- Cycling provision on the southeast side of the Chester Road ends at the end of the parallel service/cycle road and there is no further cycle access to the shops on the southeast side (Aldi, Halfords, Morissons etc...). At the end of the service/cycle road there is no infrastructure to allow crossing of the (3 lane at this point) Chester Road to gain access to the cycle route on the northwest side of the development, leading to many bicycle users just continuing along the pavement.
- There is very little cycle parking in the development with just a few racks on the aforementioned pedestrian plaza which are quite a distance from the majority of shops. So whereas provision is made for drivers to park less than 10 meters away from shop doors bicycle users are expected to carry their shopping to the end of the development. A quick survey of the car park next to the shared use pavement showed enough space for roughly 18 sheffield stands on the gravel-effect pavement build-outs, so there are few excuses for this failing.
- Signalised pedestrian and cycle crossings are of good quality but wait times are quiet long (full traffic light cycle) and the scheme could benefit from some zebra crossings further away from the main junction to enable easier crossings.
If anyone has any further comments, modifications or thoughts on the development I would be happy to add them on before I submit it as a formal response to the consultation.