So who is in the 65% of people that agreed to the Vogue Gyratory 'improvements'?

[Notters]

I voted for it and live around the corner, drivings a pain in Brighton anyway. It will make cycling to and from the AMEX (university) a lot safer, and protecting life is a good thing.

But driving is not a pain in Brighton. It works better than virtually every other city in the UK.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Seriously though, do you not think there's too many pointless car journeys in this city? Gridlock everywhere and our lovely city could look so much nicer with reduced congestion. Good luck to em.

There may be a number of pointless journeys ( I'm not sure who decides what makes a journey pointless though ? ) but to suggest there is gridlock is absolute rubbish. Whenever I drive in or through the city I rarely get caught by any serious traffic although I do avoid the main routes that tourists use such as the seafront and the London Road. They could reduce what congestion there is with better traffic flow measures rather than big schemes to reduce the amount of road available to drivers. The problem is whoever they currently use to "tinker" with the current roads clearly has no experience of using the roads they change.

Take for example the change at the junction of Sackville Road and Old Shoreham Road as you drive south. It always worked well have the two left hand lanes being able to go straight ahead down Sackville. Some complete idiot has decided to change the left hand lane to left hand turn only thus creating queues back to the Co-Op. It's probably the same idiot that decided to remove a lane on Mill Hill for absolutely no reason.

If the council want to reduce congestion and pollution then they need to get people in who actually know what they're doing and increase traffic flow not decrease it.

 

[The Large One]

If the council want to reduce congestion and pollution then they need to get people in who actually know what they're doing and increase traffic flow not decrease it.

They have.

You don't actually think that the Lewes Road scheme was thought up by Green Party members and environmentalists, do you?

 

[Lord Bracknell]

There may be a number of pointless journeys ( I'm not sure who decides what makes a journey pointless though ? ) but to suggest there is gridlock is absolute rubbish. Whenever I drive in or through the city I rarely get caught by any serious traffic although I do avoid the main routes that tourists use such as the seafront and the London Road. They could reduce what congestion there is with better traffic flow measures rather than big schemes to reduce the amount of road available to drivers. The problem is whoever they currently use to "tinker" with the current roads clearly has no experience of using the roads they change.

Take for example the change at the junction of Sackville Road and Old Shoreham Road as you drive south. It always worked well have the two left hand lanes being able to go straight ahead down Sackville. Some complete idiot has decided to change the left hand lane to left hand turn only thus creating queues back to the Co-Op. It's probably the same idiot that decided to remove a lane on Mill Hill for absolutely no reason.

If the council want to reduce congestion and pollution then they need to get people in who actually know what they're doing and increase traffic flow not decrease it.

That's the problem with farming projects out to firms of consultants. In the old days, the council directly employed its own team of traffic engineers, who built up their expertise over a period of years, with a good practical knowledge of the place they were working. Those guys have pretty much all gone - poached by the private sector consultants, to work on traffic projects all over the country. Once they've finished a job, they are no longer around to look at what's happened, and tweak things, if necessary. The best that can be hoped for is that, a couple of years after a scheme is completed, the council might call in another team of consultants to do the tweaking.

It's the way all public works are commissioned these days.

 

[The Large One]

I'm a resident of the coombe road area, I voiced my concerns and suggested that this project does not go ahead. I don't think putting bus lanes anywhere improves things but never mind. I think the decision was made before the vote went ahead...

The vote hasn't happened yet.

 

[surrey jim]

Question, when were the surveys issued and how? I live in Bevendean and can't recall seeing anything in the post. Did the council email it out, if so guess it got caught in spam filter. I assume it's too late for my views now.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

They have.

You don't actually think that the Lewes Road scheme was thought up by Green Party members and environmentalists, do you?

I'm yet to be convinced - based on the recent record I'd suggest the council haven't got people in who know what they're doing. If it was party members who thought it up ( which clearly it isn't ) then it would have been the Tories - I quite surprised you missed the opportunity to point that out ...... again !

 

[Lord Bracknell]

Question, when were the surveys issued and how? I live in Bevendean and can't recall seeing anything in the post. Did the council email it out, if so guess it got caught in spam filter. I assume it's too late for my views now.

One thing is certain. The council don't know the e-mail addresses of every resident in Bevendean.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Party politics aside, the lane on Old Shoreham road is an absolute disaster. It's impossible to pull out of one those side roads opposite BHASVIC playing fields without swinging out into incoming traffic.

glad someone else noticed this...one ends up mounting the pavement

 

[surrey jim]

One thing is certain. The council don't know the e-mail addresses of every resident in Bevendean.

Perhaps not every resident but I'm sure I provided email when updating electoral register.

 

[yxee]

Seriously though, do you not think there's too many pointless car journeys in this city? Gridlock everywhere and our lovely city could look so much nicer with reduced congestion. Good luck to em.

It just seems extremely judgemental to label another person's journey as "pointless".

Their target isn't to remove gridlock, their target is to remove cars. If to that end they must create gridlock, by halving the number of lanes down a busy commuter road, and, in doing so, manufacture an additional disincentive to get in a car to go to work, then that seems to be fine by them.

 

[Horton's halftime iceberg]

But driving is not a pain in Brighton. It works better than virtually every other city in the UK.

Really, I find it easier to walk into town and if I'm cutting across town either way, I time it to avoid rush hours and schools runs if possible. I think the changes are a good idea in what is a very dangerous junction and will hopefully make trips to the Universitys and AMEX quicker by bike and public transport. I'd rather still have the viaduct and railway line to Kemptown mind, but that didn't even make the short list.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

It just seems extremely judgemental to label another person's journey as "pointless".

Their target isn't to remove gridlock, their target is to remove cars. If to that end they must create gridlock, by halving the number of lanes down a busy commuter road, and, in doing so, manufacture an additional disincentive to get in a car to go to work, then that seems to be fine by them.

Lewes Road no longer carries the volume of traffic that it did when it was made into a dual carriageway (when it also served as the A27, South Coast Trunk Road, before the bypass was built).

If Lewes Road was to be built afresh today, to cope with the amount of traffic it currently carries, the good practice guide for highway designers would recommend that it only provided one traffic lane in each direction. Delivering this standard will NOT "create gridlock".

Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) | Standards for Highways

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

I live in Bevendean and , only earlier this week, came across the large A4 envelope with all the consultation papers. Like many others, I'd opened, glanced and put it aside. However, I was reminded about it and voted via the BHCC survey page they had set up.

I'm not in favour, although as a bus user perhaps I should be. I was pretty amazed it had a 'yes' vote but I believe they played it 'by the book' and it will now go through.

 

[trueblue]

I'm talking about pulling out from side roads. To pull out safely, it's almost impossible to avoid going up onto the raised cycle lane.

Yep. You can only get out from the side streets by driving over the cycle lanes unless you want to swing head first into traffic heading the opposite way. It amazes me that the safety of a handful of cyclists is put at such a premium along that stretch that they have dramatically increased the chances of head-on vehicle collisions. Likewise, if you're heading east and turning into The Drive, you are now placed into a filter lane on the wrong side of the road i.e. directly facing the traffic coming towards you. This is particularly dangerous as drivers in that situation are used to having a green light specifically for them - if you're not concentrating, it's easy to pull away as the lights change and straight into the path of oncoming traffic.

What they should have done on the Old Shoreham Road was have just ONE bike lane that was slightly wider (they're huge as it is) and have bikes using that in both directions, as works very neatly in Amsterdam. There'd have been room for a kerb for extra protection and it would still have left more space for cars and buses.

 

[Freddie Goodwin.]

Back to Lewes Rd. With the car lane expected to be pretty full, and bus stops built out rather than laybys, how will busses overtake eachother?

I can see a convoy of buses where the 1st one is picking up/setting down and the others are stuck behind.

 

[surrey jim]

Has the work started today? Was driving down stuck in traffic from the bottom of the avenue. Rather than wait in the que myself and many others cut up coombe road and across. Can see that area becoming more of a rat runs than it currently is.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I voted for it and live around the corner, drivings a pain in Brighton anyway. It will make cycling to and from the AMEX (university) a lot safer, and protecting life is a good thing.

It is the one dangerous bit of road to negotiate on my ride from Portslade to the Amex. This may sound like I am a bit of a girl, but I've started getting off the bike and walking it using the crossings. Hanging in that middle lane while cars and buses jostle and hustle to change lanes isn't my idea of fun on a bike.

Although I still haven't worked out the correct cycle route using cycle lanes from the Old Steine through the Level up to Lewes Road. Perhaps it's just me, but I must do 3 figures of '8' by the time I've reach the end...

 

[Badger]

Although I still haven't worked out the correct cycle route using cycle lanes from the Old Steine through the Level up to Lewes Road. Perhaps it's just me, but I must do 3 figures of '8' by the time I've reach the end...

Yes that is one of the worst designed cycle routes in Brighton, going from The Level to the seafront involves turning up Church Road, going along New Road (with pedestrians in the way), down North Street (main bus route) and along East Street (pedestrians again). That is of course after you've negotiated those figures of 8 you speak of.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Yes that is one of the worst designed cycle routes in Brighton, going from The Level to the seafront involves turning up Church Road, going along New Road (with pedestrians in the way), down North Street (main bus route) and along East Street (pedestrians again). That is of course after you've negotiated those figures of 8 you speak of.

Great, I was hoping someone was going to reveal some magical fairy lit pathway that opens up before you like a scene in some fantasy film or other to negotiate through this part of the journey.