Lewes Road re-vamp

[Common as Mook]

This is going to cause utter carnage isn't it?

Four wheels bad, two wheels good in Lewes Road revamp From The Argus)

 

[Crispy Ambulance]

Utter, utter fuckwits! They really haven't got a clue, have they?

 

[Deleted member 22389]

I'm in two minds. I drive and I cycle. I think making provision for cyclists is a good thing because the roads are dangerous enough. However I understand that it make driving around there even worse. You only need to look at the A259 between Peacehaven and Brighton to see what it has turned out like.

 

[halbpro]

a) Yay, my buses will probably be slightly quicker.

b) That is really going to f*** up Lewes road for anyone who drives. It's pretty bad with two lanes at times due to bottlenecking at the various lights and around the Gyratory (sp?), this really isn't going to help.

 

[halbpro]

Opps double post! Mod delete?

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

You can't really argue that in an ideal world, people would cycle to work, the amount of cars would reduce and we'd all be fit and healthy in a greener city.
BUT. This is going to cost a HUGE amount of money. If there are no better places to spend this money I'd be very surprised.

Perhaps they could get some of the money for this by fining every bastard that rides a bike at night with no lights!

 

[stevedx]

Totally ridiculous

 

[c0lz]

lol They really haven't got a clue, already they complain about car emissions and the slowing down and extra queuing of cars will add more. the whole development of the Lewes road since the opening of the Sainsburys has been one big joke.

 

[shaolinpunk]

In theory it's a nice idea to encourage more people to use public transport and bikes.

In reality I fear it will be an utter shambles, reducing a major route in and out of the city to a standstill for large portions of the day, never mind peak times when the weather is good etc. As it is once you get to about Mithras House you've hit traffic and that's with two lanes.

I live just off Lewes Road, so when this is done we'll probably need to stick to the likes of Ditchling Road and Upper Lewes Road to get home during rush hour in a reasonable time.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

Lewes Road is already jammed at peak times and pretty heavy traffic off-peak. I'm in two minds about these proposals but being a motorcycle rider it doesn't really effect me either way.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

The greens appear to have an agenda of creating as much irreversible carnage to this great city of ours before they get ousted at the next elections. God help us!

 

[The Large One]

You can't really argue that in an ideal world, people would cycle to work, the amount of cars would reduce and we'd all be fit and healthy in a greener city.
BUT. This is going to cost a HUGE amount of money. If there are no better places to spend this money I'd be very surprised.

Perhaps they could get some of the money for this by fining every bastard that rides a bike at night with no lights!

For a start, anything that improves that basketcase of a junction at Vogue Gyratory is a good thing. I'm amazed that that whole system didn't have an overhaul the day it opened.

Secondly, it's ring-fenced money from central Government, so it's money that has to go on sustainable transport.

Regarding access to the Amex - to be honest, the central problem isn't Lewes Road - it's the junction with the A27 at Falmer. The bus journey is fine (and anything that encourages bus journeys - if only they were cheaper - is fine by me) until it gets to that junction. Then it's a crawl. A slow, time-stopping crawl.

 

[Badger]

Looking at the details:

A new bus and cycle lane in both directions on the dual carriageway section of Lewes Road between the Vogue Gyratory and the A27 Falmer interchange. This will stretch 10km. It could involve either a combined lane or a separate bus and 2m wide cycle lane. Taxis can also use the bus lane.

Never been a big fan of bus lanes and this seems a bit much. The cycle lanes do need improving though.

Changes to the Vogue Gyratory. This will see a continuous on-road two metre cycle lane northbound and separate bus lane. New traffic lights will be installed including the city’s first cycle-only priority light.

Something needs to be done, I'll wait to see exactly what they do before passing judgement

Remove about 50 parking bays on the east side of Lewes Road between Natal Road and the bus garage. This will benefit cyclists and see pavements widened. Loading facilities and disabled parking would be retained where necessary.

I agree with this bit, I've always found it quite dangerous cycling along that bit especially when people are double-parked.

Improve the junctions at Saunders Park View and Coombe Road for pedestrians and cyclists.

No brainer

Widen the 300m shared cycle and pedestrian path next to Lewes Road north of Coldean Lane.

Happy with that, often pedestrians don't even realise it's a cycle lane

Extra signs for cyclists along the route; l Extending the 30mph speed limit northwards to The Amex and the A27 Falmer interchange.

Very rarely get chance to go more than 30 anyway

New bus shelters and real time information signs in Moulsecoomb, Bevendean and Coldean.

Fair enough





Overall I think I agree with most of it.

 

[CHAPPERS]

The bus needs to be CHEAPER if this is going to work.

 

[The Large One]

When they say 10km, I suspect that mean 10km in total. 5km on way, and 5km back again.

Why would you want 6 miles of bus lane into 3 miles of road?

 

[Stoichkov]

Lewes Road was alright until about 7/8 years ago when the existing cycle lanes were put in, kerbs built out, extra crossings and a load of work carried out at the bottom of Elm Grove.

Its not been the same since so they're coming back to basically tamper with what they messed up first time around.

The bottom of Elm Grove was a junction that worked - now, it gets snarled up much further towards St Peters Church and along Union Road

I suppose allowing the waste transfer station to be built and all the associated extra HGV movements didn't help this already very busy area - the Veolia HGV's are MASSIVE!

 

[The Large One]

Lewes Road was alright until about 7/8 years ago when the existing cycle lanes were put in, kerbs built out, extra crossings and a load of work carried out at the bottom of Elm Grove.

Its not been the same since so they're coming back to basically tamper with what they messed up first time around.

The bottom of Elm Grove was a junction that worked - now, it gets snarled up much further towards St Peters Church and along Union Road

I suppose allowing the waste transfer station to be built and all the associated extra HGV movements didn't help this already very busy area - the Veolia HGV's are MASSIVE!

They're not touching Elm Grove / Union Road area this time around.

Or is that not the point you're making?

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

It will come from £4.2 million of funding from the Government’s sustainable transport fund.
Ok, wow, that's a nice lot of money to spend on the city.

Another £2.25 million has been pledged by partners
Double wow. £6.45 million pounds to play with.

About £1 million will be spent on the road, including the bus and bike lanes, plus various other improvements.
Right... so what about the other £5.45 million?

The rest of the money will be spent on travel planning programmes and working with schools and universities.
So, that's nearly FIVE AND A HALF MILLION POUNDS on travel planning programmes? What does that include? Does anyone know?

 

[The Large One]

It will come from £4.2 million of funding from the Government’s sustainable transport fund.
Ok, wow, that's a nice lot of money to spend on the city.

Another £2.25 million has been pledged by partners
Double wow. £6.45 million pounds to play with.

About £1 million will be spent on the road, including the bus and bike lanes, plus various other improvements.
Right... so what about the other £5.45 million?

The rest of the money will be spent on travel planning programmes and working with schools and universities.
So, that's nearly FIVE AND A HALF MILLION POUNDS on travel planning programmes? What does that include? Does anyone know?

There's a whole infrastructure of roads and junctions across the city to consider.

Where's the extra money going? Don't know yet (I wouldn't mind some traffic calming in my road), apart from one part I know the council has said it would contribute to - the part of the cycle path / footpath from Woodingdean to Falmer that falls within the city boundaries.

 

[Stoichkov]

They're not touching Elm Grove / Union Road area this time around.

Or is that not the point you're making?

I think my point is that there's plenty of examples of places around the town where costly projects haven't provided any benefits to road users regardless of their mode of transport - Elm Grove being one of them

Using the current situation as evidence that this scheme needs to happen is leaving out the fact that the transport conditions have become much worse due, in quite a big part, to the previous actions of B&HCC