Parking or no parking? Headley Way & Windmill Road

Comments on Access to Headington – Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) – Other Options

https://consultations.oxfordshire.gov.uk/consult.ti/A2H_TRO_additional_options/consultationHome

This consultation is on specific modifications to earlier TROs for Headley Way and Windmill Road implementing the Access to Headington scheme. The modifications allow for the retention of some car parking on both those roads from which earlier plans had removed all on-street parking.

Detailed drawings of the proposals can be seen here:

These comments relate exclusively to the combination of cycle lanes and car parking which would feature in both roads if these proposals were implemented and have been submitted to the County.

The County’s Transport Strategy LTP4 and its application to Oxford City recognises it is essential to find ways of encouraging people to shift away from journeys by private car and onto public transport and active modes, i.e. cycling and walking. To this end the County has decided to implement a network of Super and Premium cycle routes in the City. As we know from the much more cycle-friendly cities of Europe, and now increasingly in London, “build it and they will come” applies to high-quality cycle routes.

In LTP4 Headley Way and Windmill Road are designated as Super Cycle Routes. This means they should be continuous, segregated as much as absolutely possible, with priority at side junctions and “a minimum width of 1.5m, with 2m the default for the busiest sections”. The original proposals were broadly welcomed by cycling groups and many others.

The latest proposals fail to live up to these good intentions. In Headley Way where the cycle lanes pass parking spaces the width drops to 1.25m “with 0.75m buffer”. The plans do not say but I assume the “buffer” is hoped to keep cyclists apart from car doors and occupants. In Windmill Road there seems to be no buffer, but cycle lanes generally 1.5m wide expand to 1.8m around the parking spaces. No explanation is given for the different treatment, but it emphasises the recurring problem in Oxford that there is no accepted design manual for cycle provision. Each new portion is treated as individual, designed and redesigned, ultimately delivering a mish-mash of incoherent and inconsistent cycle routes that are unnecessarily difficult to navigate.

Parked cars are inherently dangerous for cyclists. Doors on both the driver’s side and passenger’s side can be opened unexpectedly. Cars may pull out without the driver having fully checked for approaching traffic – including bikes. SMIDSY – “Sorry mate, I didn’t see you” is no consolation (or excuse) for a broken collarbone or worse. If the cycle lane is on the road (shared, not segregated) cyclists tend to give parked cars a wide berth, moving out into the main traffic flow – a safety manoeuvre which aggravates some motorists.

This danger is recognised in, for example, the Government of Wales’ Design Guidance for Active Travel, incorporated into the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013. This says:

6.21 Car parking / loading and Cycle Lanes DE015

Kerbside vehicle parking or loading can often be dangerous for cyclists especially in a street with high vehicle turnover rates as there is a high risk of vehicle doors being opened into the path of cyclists within the cycle lane. It is therefore necessary that any cycle lane must pass parking areas with a sufficient dividing strip (buffer zone) or else be of sufficient width to enable cyclists to travel in the cycle lane away from the parking.

These latest compromise proposals are therefore a retrograde step and a further watering-down of the aspirations of LTP4. As such they will be less attractive to the potential new cyclists whom the County recognises need to be persuaded to give up their cars, and so less successful in achieving less congested and less polluted routes into and around Headington. I urge the County’s engineers and councillors to be bold and put the interests of the wider public ahead of the small minority affected by the removal of parking (for whom provision nearby has been arranged) and revert to their earlier proposals to remove all on-street parking on the two roads.

However, if this is not to be then all care should be taken to make the cycle lanes as safe as possible. This means running the cycle lanes inside the parking spaces. This has been recognised in Transport for London’s draft Cycling Design Standards of 2014 – see the relevant extract here. (The complete chapter from the full document is at https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/cycling/draft-london-cycling-design-standards/user_uploads/ch3-cycle-lanes-and-tracks.pdf )

Cycle lanes and parking - Transport for London
Cycle lanes and parking – Transport for London

It will also need the cycle lanes to be clearly delineated with physical features such as angled kerbs, raised blocks a few centimeters proud of the surface, or ‘armadillos’ (others will be better able to advise), not just white paint. Such physical features help all road and footpath users identify and respect the areas which they should naturally use.

 

 

3 thoughts on “Parking or no parking? Headley Way & Windmill Road

  1. I would like to make a comment as one of the ‘small minority’ of residents of Headley Way who is affected by the parking issue. Unfortunately I suffer with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, and as such have extremely limited walking ability. However, at the present time I can still get to work by using my car. Unfortunately, if the parking were to be removed from outside my house on Headley Way, I would not be able to continue working, in fact it would be extremely difficult for me to leave my house at all. I do completely understand your point of trying to urge people onto their bicycles, before I was struck by multiple sclerosis six years ago I would absolutely always walk or cycle anywhere. Now, unfortunately, I do not have a choice. There are others on Headley Way who are elderly, infirm or parents with young children who would all suffer if the parking is removed. I would just make the point that those cycling are lucky enough to have the luxury of choosing to cycle, and where they will cycle, I do not have that luxury. So please consider that those residents desperate to keep our parking are doing so, not out of laziness, but because the impact on our daily lives would be phenomenal. Personally losing the ability to park outside my house on Headley Way, where I have lived for fifteen years, would be catastrophic. If the parking is retained we must all make the effort to be aware of other road users. Those who park their cars must be vigilant over checking for cyclists, and cyclists must descend Headley Way and Windmill Road slowly and with caution.

  2. Dear Patricia
    Thank you for writing. I can only guess at the difficulties you cope with, and I sympathise with the problems you foresee if you can’t park as close to your home as you do now. I admit I (and others) are arguing on a matter of principle and with frustration that the County Highway planners have yet to show they are willing to invest to achieve a step change in the quality of cycling provision in the city – something they say is essential. I can’t believe a civil engineer couldn’t come up with a solution which would give us the best of both worlds – parking for you and the hopefully few other genuine hardship cases and a safe, attractive continuous cycle lane on the downhill side of Headley Way. Such a solution might cost a bit more than they expected to have to spend, but I think it’s a price they – and we – should be prepared to pay.

    1. Dear Tony
      Thank you very much for posting my comments, and for your reply, it is much appreciated. I would just say that the County Highway planners, to my mind, do seem to have achieved a workable solution. I think they have looked long and hard at the problems faced by all and come up with a plan that is not absolutely perfect for any (residents have lost some spaces and trees will be sacrificed) but that perhaps we can all work with. The Council have a finite amount of money, albeit a large amount, to work with and actually I personally think there are far more worthy causes on which to spend the money. I doubt homeless, out of work, needy people would agree with your sentiment that spending more than ten million pounds on these road changes is a price worth paying… but I may be wrong!

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