1. posterid:1236747
  2. Consultation on South End Green

Re: Consultation on South End Green

Jean Dollimore
 

I am sorry to have to say that I believe that Elena is right in saying that the bus stands are not going to be moved away from the south eastern loop road.

But there are other simpler ways to make the junction safer for cycling. I have identified three of the turns that seem to me to be conditions that give rise to the most common types of collisions. (See turns numbered 1, 2 and 3 in the sketch)


1. Turning right from South End Road into Pond Street (e.g. to go to the Hospital): here there is a risk of what we call ‘left hook’ - i.e. as the cycle moves ahead a motor vehicle comes from behind and turns left across the path of the cycle.
- this can be avoided by using the slip road as indicated by the blue dashed line. (one of you suggested that it would be a good idea to use Tiger crossings to help with right turns into and out of the slip road). I have indicated the position of existing zebra crossings (heavy dashes). These could  be converted to Tiger (or parallel) crossings. The one on South End Road would need to have the central island removed.

2. Going straight ahead on Fleet Road: another left hook situation. 
- the cyclists could turn into Pond Street and use the slip road via the Pond Street Tiger crossing

3. Going straight ahead on Pond Street into Constantine Road: another left hook situation plus the difficulty of making the movement when the middle of the junction is blocked by motor vehicles waiting to tum right. 
- this could be solved by means of another Tiger crossing across South End Road close to the junction (the informal crossing would be moved down and replaced by a zebra).

How does this look?

Jean


On 24 Sep 2022, at 21:29, James Brander <jbrander47@...> wrote:

Hi Elena,
The 168 bus will still use the northwestern slip road, and will still sit there waiting to cross to the southeast slip road.
Fleet Road is already used as a holding area for the 24, whose future is uncertain anyway.
Jean asked us to think of ideas to help cyclists. That was mine, impractical as it might be.
Best wishes
James Brander 

On Sat, 24 Sep 2022, 14:42 Elena Moynihan, <elena.moynihan@...> wrote:
James - The problem with relocating the buses is that it just won't happen:  these bus  : another left hook situation. have been the reason for the long delay to the project, as various alternatives ( Fleet, Constantine and others ) have been put forward and rejected ( mainly by people living on those roads ).
Asking TfL to consider this again would mean another 20 year paralysis, getting nowhere.

That slip road is currently full of traffic, idling buses and parked cars:   getting it back to use by pedestrians and bikes will be a huge bonus.

Elena




On Fri, 23 Sept 2022 at 19:24, James Brander <jbrander47@...> wrote:
Hi, As a regular user of this junction, I note the following:
The main cycle desire lines are to and from the Heath, via Fleet Road and East Heath Road, returning obviously on Constantine Road. The parking on Fleet Rd often introduces a pinch point, exacerbated by the excessive traffic speeds even outside the primary school, which it would be good to eliminate. 
The complications I experience are from vehicles turning into Pond St and emerging from the north-western side lane. But traffic is usually so congested that there is little actual danger.

So, I would propose the following:
Relocate the 24 holding area to Fleet Road and shift the parking south to reduce carriageway width and traffic speeds on that road.
Relocate the 168 holding area to the South eastern side lane.
Divert all southbound traffic from East Heath Rd into the south eastern side lane.
Reduce the carriageway width past the public loo to create space for a two-way cycle lane.
Close, as proposed, the north western side lane to all but buses and cycles.

I'm sure these ideas will go down like the proverbial balloons, but there they are.
Yours in cycling,
James Brander 

On Fri, 23 Sep 2022, 00:07 Richard Thomas, <richard@...> wrote:
Douglas - I think this looks great - Richard

On Thu, 22 Sept 2022 at 22:26, Douglas Schwab via groups.io <dhschwab=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:
Hi
I use the area as a cyclist and pedestrian and cyclist for decades. It is a mess and has been for many reworkings. How can such a peace backwater get so much confused traffic?

The new scheme is worse than existing for cyclist as there are turning areas on Fleet Road. 

The existing pedestrian crossings are where pedestrians are (imo), just difficult for cars to race through.

Street cafes for Starbucks? I doubt they would financially commit to staffing outdoor tables.

Is a complete novice with a terrible dtrawing I add my naive proposal to join Fleet Road, the gents and the Park to be a singular green space. Hopefully this would be a fenced mini-woodland as the Heath is moments away but gets little view South End Green.

The intent is simplify lots of (historic) roads into simple junctions and offer a reason to do so, gaining park green space…and better for cyclists.



Bye for now




Douglas








On 22 Sep 2022, at 16:25, Jean Dollimore <jean@...> wrote:

Today’s CNJ had a full page article as well as a few letters about this consultation. The talk is all about the long-lived controversy as to where the 168 bus should ‘stand’.

The consultation is mainly about a proposal to close the slip road to motor vehicles, allowing two-way cycling and providing a streatery for some of the cafés.

It also includes proposals to improve the pedestrian crossings at the junction of Fleet Road/ Pond Street/South End Road/ Constantine Road (removing the island alnd allowing people to walk straight over)

So far, so good and I think we should support these proposals.

BUT: what about cycling? 
- we gain a two-way route through a nicely closed slip road which avoids using the above mentioned junction. But turning right into the slip road is tricky: any ideas as to how to make it easier?

- improvements for cycling should be made at at the above mentioned junction:  is there room to put protected cycle lanes on the approaches, through the junction and on the exits?
(e.g. it would be nice to be able to go down South End Road and left into Constantine Road or turn left from Fleet Road into Pond Street without being cut it by drivers)

Please suggest ideas for me to include in our response.



I have summarised the details on our website here:

and you can go straight to the consultation on Camden’s website here:


Jean
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