Lesson 1: overdesigning cycle infrastructure

Where is that?!

Where is that?!

Manchester/Salford.

I'm constantly astonished by how much Manchester in particular manages to **** up anything remotely connected to cycling.
It's like Chris Boardman may as well never have existed for all that Manchester councillors listened to him.

Great plans, great ambitions and they make the right sort of noises. Woeful execution.

I'm assuming it's some kind of art installation?

I saw that on twitter and assumed it was some kind of Coldwar Steve joke.

When space and regulations collide

I’m assuming it’s some kind of art installation?

Nope, that's £5m of cycling funding spent on a designer who has clearly never ridden a bike and a highways department with a paint budget to use up.

It's why I can't stand all this "we'll spend £20 per head of population on cycling infrastructure!" boasting from councils or mayors. I'd rather they spent £5/person properly than £20/person on total bollocks like this.

There's a whole load of drawings from the original planning on one of the many sub-threads of that tweet, they got slated back in 2020 during the planning/consultation phase but they went ahead and built it anyway.

And now cyclists aren't going to use it (or at least not as the designer intended) because it's shit, so everyone is going to go "what a waste of money building stuff for cyclists cos they never use it..."

So it's a performance art installation?

Obvious question is obvious, but why is/was it (thought to be) needed, rather than just having the four cycle lanes meet in a 'shared space' kinda thing?

We’re getting our own “Hovenring” here in Falkirk and some locals are losing their shit over the unnecessary cost for those ****ing cyclists.

TBF the design is rather OTT but it’s going to look nice.

WTUtterF! That's ridiculous!

So unbelievably pointless. I mean the cycle lane is pretty much coming to an end in three directions, so everyone would be slowing down anyway.

I’d rather they spent £5/person properly than £20/person on total bollocks like this.

This is so often the case, in many fields - lots of focus on more funding, but little regard for efficiency or appropriateness.

There are a whole strata of people who don't really have much to do at work, and they spend most of their day doing things that they will use to try justify their salary. These people exist in every industry I've ever worked in. They are the ones that make life difficult for those that are actually trying to do whatever it is the organisation is supposed to be doing.

That's what has happened here: loads of people have insisted on having an input so that at the end of the year they can claim to have contributed. It doesn't matter if their 'work' makes things worse, as long as they can insist they were involved.

That’s what has happened here: loads of people have insisted on having an input

It's really not. There's any number of regs that tell you what needs to be placed where and what size and with what markings. This looks dumb because it's in such a small installation. The regulations do not care about your aesthetics.

It does look stupid though. But I guess it's the cycling equivalent of shit like this:

Just realised there are give ways to get onto the roundabout AND a give way on the roundabout - that’s a bit French for post-Brexit Britain isn’t it?!? 🇬🇧

Someone who works in planning or the highways team at the local council has seen a cycle lane roundabout somewhere on holiday or on the internet and has really wanted to put one in ever since. I bet they've been itching to find the 'right' spot for one, and then they got a load of money to spend on cycle infrastructure....

It’s bad. But why anyone is surprised in a city in which the 10 TfGM planned active neighbourhoods have failed, in which the metro mayor continually gives mixed messages and which was responsible for the European-style boulevard that is Great Ancoats St…

If you are in GM and have any interest in active travel at all, please get involved in your local group, whether that’s WalkRide GM or the borough groups.

Edit - DM me if you’re in Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale

But I guess it’s the cycling equivalent of shit like this:

That's the magic roundabout in Swindon, right? That actually works brilliantly well to be fair, because there are a lot of vehicles coming from a lot of different directions that want to go to a lot of different directions. It doesn't look like it should work, but it does.

Words and lines, so many, eyes hurt, bike crashed!

Its crazy isn't it. It was bad enough before the paint went on!

1. Why have they created a non-standard method of crossing for pedestrians? As soon as there are a 2 or 3 people in the middle they will block each others view.

2. Why has it got a give way on the roundabout other than to just further confuse cyclists

3. All those lids are for regularly accessed telecom stuff. Now if you want a new internet connection, technically a notice needs to go in to close/divert the cycle way. The notice period is 3 months! They could at least have changed them for precinct covers so the surface is all the same rather than covered in concrete lids!

I can't help but wonder why they didn't create a mini roundabout with just a tree and a painted circle in the middle so there is space for peds to cross around the edges like a standard roundabout.

1) STRAAAAVVAAAAA
2) Hopper ramps
3) low-consequence gap practice on trials bike