Cycle parking - Hallamshire Hospital

Just in case you thought the Ha Ha Hallamshire had anything to do with health...

Sustrans Rangers set up own litter bin.

Fed up with the failure of the council to sort the litter problem on the NCN, Sustrans Rangers have set up their own litter bin at the manor way access point.

Alternative Shopping Trolley

Spotted on Glossop Rd

Debate on road fatalities in HoC, 5th Dec 2007

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2007-12-05a.284.1&s=cycle#g284.2Mark07971

Pp meet

8th dec

Empire rd

Total chaos!

Empire rd

Strange arrangement here!

Little London rd

Will they ever finish it?

TdeF earns London 120million

Worth mentioning when the whingers start on about the Tour of Britain next year...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7115228.stm

Sunny Bank - Bedale Road Cycle Route

A few more bits of this route have gone in, including ASL's at the junct. of Washington/Wostenholm Rd & Sharrow Lane (much needed) and a rather strange turning arrangement at the junction of Empire Rd & Abbeydale Rd.

New TRO's

Falding Street (Chapeltown) - Controlled Parking Zone
Oughtibridge - creating no waiting zones on various roads being used by through traffic
avoiding closure of Middlewood Rd. 6 months, experimental.
Firth Park South. 20mph Child Safety Zone. I shall write to support this. Slower speeds aid cyclists.

If you have any comments on any of these or would like to see the plans use the blogger comments facility or email.

Quick Notes from Cycle Forum 13th Nov

Presentation from Rob Stanley about Connext2

TV prog is on 4/12

Link to tram

NIRR opens Sun

Bus lane cameras on Wicker/Snig Hill

A review of broomhall & hill parking schemes is upcoming. Comments welcome.

Supertram safety scheme in next financial year.

New signage scheme for cycle routes

Herries RD/Scraithwood Drive puffin.

Leopold St "fan" puts cyclists in danger.

Snig Hill/Burngreave - Andrew R. is on the case.

Traffic Regulation Orders (TRO's)

(i) Brincliffe Gardens/Osborne Rd.

Additional parking/waiting retrictions.

(ii) East Bank Rd - road safety scheme at junction of Northern Ave. I tend to support these even if they cause some inconvenience (but not danger) to cyclists as I think the overall benefits outweigh the minor inconveniences.

Any comments to me asap please (via blog or email list). By the time I get these they are pretty much done and dusted.

Around the city...

...a sign on Staveley Rd, probably Sheffield's bumpiest on-road bike route at the moment says that re-surfacing will start on the 15th, 2007. It doesn't say what month though!

People have asked where the next CCTV on Bus Gates will be. Well, all the Bus Gates on the Northern Inner Relief Rd will be covered by CCTV. A new publicity campaign under the "Free the Sheffield Buses and Trams" banner has been launched.

The CTC is setting up a Cycle Parking website where cyclists can feed into the process of deciding where new cycle parking should go, and Sheffield has agreed to take part. We will be happy to enter our list of cycle parking requests -
http://tinyurl.com/2zmr8c - on the system once it is set up.

Simon
Sheffield Cycle Campaign

p.s. Cyclists Social, Bath Hotel Victoria St Thursday 15th Nov 8-10.
All welcome.

Rotherham Station improvements

SYPTE Press Release.

Aedas wins £2.5m South Yorks station design brief
Filed 30/10/07

Architectural practice Aedas has been selected to design a £2.5m railway station at Rotherham in South Yorkshire.

The brief - for South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and Yorkshire Forward - will see the existing station upgraded to match similarly improved stations in Barnsley, Doncaster and Sheffield.

Rotherham station is included in regeneration body Yorkshire Forward’s Urban Renaissance programme and will gain a passenger lounge, retail space and a travel and information centre.

Melanie Dei Rossi, principal project Manager of SYPTE said: “The catalyst for the change within Rotherham has been Yorkshire Forward’s Urban Renaissance programme which has set out a new agenda for the future of the region’s towns. Developing the railway station is going to be an important part of Rotherham’s regeneration.”

Work on remodelling the station is expected to take place in 2009/10 and will be the first phase of a four-phase programme. Future phases will include the provision of lifts to the platforms, dualling the track access to increase train frequency and lengthening the platforms.

Aedas project manager Alistair Branch said: “The redeveloped station will present a dramatic and architecturally impressive gateway for visitors and daily users. It will provide passengers with a fantastic improvement in waiting facilities, while also upgrading links to the town centre.”

Any local/EMCF feedback yet?


My initial thoughts:

Rotherham station is already on NCN6 and has reasonable - not great - cycle links to the town centre, which has suffered more from the imposition of Meadowpool than Sheffield. NCN6 could be improved in the area - it suffered heavily on the floods. Rotherham has yet to complete the link to Aldwarke - a stroppy boatyard owner is refusing to allow a right of way & Rham are fighting shy of a CPO.

A long-term ambition has to be a route alongside the River Don linking back to the NCN at Conisborough.

The station itself has dual tracks but the connecting line from the MML to the Rother Valley line is single - this was all done in a hurry and on the cheap when Masborough station was closed.

Rotherham has no CTC RTR so I'll have to take it on.

Wicker

The council have posted proposals to restrict traffic on the Wicker, now the bulk of the traffic has been taken off it by the NIRR . These will help to restore this area to its former glory and prosperity and attract inward investment. We have written to support the proposals.

Boston St/Cemetery Rd.

Those who follow this route in the morning may have noticed that there is slightly less traffic queuing to use the bus gate. This is because, further along on Denby St (some of you may recall the popular children's nursery there that was closed so the land could be sold to developers for student apartments) a Traffic Regulation Order has come into effect closing the road and making it impossible to get to Bramall Lane and thus the Inner Ring Road by this route. Presumably people are currently driving down there, finding they can't get through legally, and either turning round or driving through illegally - hopefully they will start using Sheffield's trunk road system as they are supposed to (or even switch to bikes/public transport!)

Devonshire Green

Received notification of a closure order for the Devonshire Green cycle track which I queried as follows:


Thank you for notifying me about the Stopping Up order for Devonshire
Green which was returned by the Post Office.

I do have a concern about this order, which is that no detail of what
the replacement facility will be, once the park is refurbished, is
given. The cycleway across Devonshire Green is part of the Peak Park
Anniversary Route as well as the local cycle network, and as a
flagship route should be restored to a high standard. I have no
problem with the cycle path being removed temporarily as long an
alternative facility of a high standard is provided in the long term.

There are no details of the plan in the conditional planning consent
- 06/04110/RG.

I would be grateful if you would let me have details of what is proposed.

Response was as follows:

This is a footpath closure as indicated in the wording of the Order. The
cycle route is not affected and this is clearly shown on the Order plan. The
cycle route will remain open during, and after, the period of site works on
the adjoining Devonshire Green.

Please contact Rob Barker in Planning (tel. 2734473) if you are interested
in details of the pedestrian facilities on the new public open space area.

So that's OK then!

Batemoor Bus Link

Proposal for a road hump on the Batemoor bus link road. I supported this.

A message from ibike

International Bicycle Fund / Ibike Update
(roughly semi-annual), June 2007

CONTENTS:

BICYCLE ESSAY CONTEST WINNERS: Winners of the 2007 Student Bicycle Essay Contest
TEACHING KIDS (AND ADULTS) TO RIDE A BICYCLE: A good start leads to more bicycling.
UPCOMING IBIKE PROGRAMS: Cameroon, South Korea, Vietnam, Uganda, Tanzania. Expand your horizons, enrich your mind, stimulate your body, and nourish you spirit.
ATENAS DE CUBA PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE PROGRAM UPDATE: Having hope in Congress.
DONATE TO IBF ONLINE:
HOUSEKEEPING MATTERS:

INTRODUCTION

We hope that the weather and road conditions around you are conducive for you do all the bicycling that you desire.  Meanwhile we are helping individuals and organizations to promote sustainable transport and understanding, worldwide.  Here is a brief program update:

WINNERS OF THE 2007 STUDENT BICYCLE ESSAY CONTEST

The winning essays from the 2007 International Bicycle Fund Student Essay contest are posted on our website. The winners are: "Bike Riding Is Not Just For Fun", by Tiffany Liu, age 7, Jen Ranch Elementary, Castro Valley, CA;  "Benefits of Biking", by Kathleen Davin, age 13, Elwood Middle School, Elwood, NY; and, "Biking: My Life, My Love", by Doreen Xu, age 15, Baylor School, Chattanooga, TN.  Each writer receives a cash prize and certificate. Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all the students who submitted essays.  The essays are posted at http://www.ibike.org/essays/2006.htm.  The next deadline is May 1, 2008.  We encourage you to motivate the students you know to think and write about bicycling, and to enter the contest.

TEACHING KIDS (AND ADULTS) TO RIDE A BICYCLE

It must be the time of year when people are out teaching and learning how to ride bicycles.  Recently we have gotten more than the usual number of praise messages on our article on how to teach kids (and adults) how to ride bicycle, and requests to help people learn to bicycle.  It all serves as a nice reminder that before people will go out and do lots of bicycling they need to learn how to bicycle.  The better they learn, the higher their level of confidence, and the higher their level of confidence the more likely they are to bicycle.  If you, or someone you know is teaching or learn how to bicycle, we would like to direct your attention to http://www.ibike.org/education/teaching-kids.htm.  If you have help someone to learn to bicycle recently know is a great time to take it on.

UPCOMING IBIKE PROGRAMS: COUNTRY YOU SHOULD SEE:

One of the goals of our travel program is to help people get out of the travel ruts – heading to the tourism destination enclaves.  We do this by offering programs to really interesting places that are not mainstream destinations, and by giving people an opportunity to see a mainstream destination through a different and more interesting lens.  We hope you will take on one of the following programs:

Cameroon: Consistent with our goal, in November 4-18, we are again offering a program to Cameroon.  It has been a while since we have put this program on the schedule, but not because it doesn’t deserve to be.  It is often called “Africa in Minature.”  Just one measure of how diverse this country is:  In the coarse of two weeks will be passing through the areas of the Duala, Bankon, Mbo, Bakaka, Bassa, Bamunka, Mendankwe-Nkwen, Kom, Lamnso’, Oku, and Bafut ethnic groups, to name a few.  It is unlikely that these names means much to you now, but in the course of the tour you will get a context for this and much more.  It is an extraordinarily beautiful route as well.  For more information see http://www.ibike.org/bikeafrica/cameroon.htm

Other up-coming programs include:
Korea: September 9-23, for more details see http://www.ibike.org/ibike/korea.  Half of Korea in pretty industrial, and the other half in picturesque rural, riverine, forested, coastal and mountainous, and continuously culturally rich -- it is the latter half that we explore!  We can’t understand why touring cyclists are swarming all over the back roads of South Korea.  Come be the first on your block to discover the elation of bicycle touring in Korea.
Vietnam: January 20-February 2, 2008, for more details see http://www.ibike.org/ibike/vietnam.  The recipe is: one part capitalism, one part communism and a dash of assorted religions, then stir – a very intriguing society, with beautiful bicycling.
Uganda: January 13-26, 2008, for more details see http://www.ibike.org/bikeafrica/uganda.htm.  Yes, it is safe, friendly and very welcoming.  The program includes really great opportunities to learn about the culture, and see wildlife -- with a back drop gorgeous scenery.
Tanzania: January 26 -February 11, 2008; for more details see http://www.ibike.org/bikeafrica/tanzania.htm.  Start with a toe in the India Ocean and finishing with ten toes on the top of Mt Kilimanjaro, the highest point in Africa.
Seattle: Year around, if you visiting Seattle please consider on of our custom Seattle Heritage Bicycle Tours.  For more details see http://www.ibike.org/ibike/seattle.

Our cultural travel programs are our main source of revenue.  We hope you will support IBF by joining one of these programs:  These may not be mainstream destinations, but that is part of their value.  The full schedule is posted at http://www.ibike.org/ibike/schedule.htm.

ATENAS DE CUBA PEOPLE-TO-PEOPLE PROGRAM UPDATE

Unfortunately, our participation with Atenas de Cuba is still suspended because of U.S. restrictions on freedom of association and freedom of travel.  There are some rays of hope in the new Congress, but even there many representatives are trying to play to all sides by casting conflicting votes, so progress has been limited.  If you would like to know more about opportunities to effect change see http://www.lawg.org/countries/cuba/takeACTION.htm

DONATE TO IBF ONLINE

To continue our work we depend on donation from people like you who support promoting sustainable transportation.  You can now donate online through a secure link.  Go to http://www.guidestar.org/partners/networkforgood/donate.jsp?ein=91-1286223 

Sheaf Valley Cycle Route

The Sheaf Valley Cycle Route (City Centre- Archer Rd) represents a substantial improvement on what we had before. The link between Saxon Rd and Little London Rd was crucial to avoid congested Chesterfield Rd; traffic has been much reduced on Little London Rd, with consequential benefits for the residents of the Lakes and Norton Hammer areas and the permeability of the Broadfield Rd area is greatly improved. The proof of the success of this scheme is the greatly increased numbers of cyclists using the route.

But...

We still have reservations about:

• Saxon Rd, where we continue to believe that a one-way scheme with a contra-flow for cyclists, mirroring the Little London Rd scheme but in the opposite direction, would have benefits for all;
• The Virgin Gym cycleway where the bollards are too close together (can't get a trike down it - we need 1.5 metres!)
• Problem of no maintenance on the link into Sainsburys (here's hoping for an interchange of some sort there one day)
• What happened to the pay-off the council got from Tescos?
• Section between Fieldhead Rd & Mount Pleasant on Abbeydale Rd where apart from the p/t inbound bus lane there is no protection for cyclists (although moving the outbound bus stop has helped)
• Please please resurface Little London Rd & Staveley Rd - my soft fruit is getting turned into puree on the way back from Sainsburys! Cycle routes need better maintenance than bronze routes!