Lewes Road transport scheme wins another award for Brighton and Hove. But what about Valley Gardens?

Good to see that the Lewes Road scheme keeps collecting awards, the latest being the Excellence in Cycling and Walking category at the National Transport Awards. The Lewes Road scheme, which links Brighton city centre with destinations along Lewes Road, has provided better connectivity for cyclists and walkers, and also provides improvements to speed buses along the way. The £6.4 million project saw nearly three miles of dual carriageway changed into a single carriageway with a new bus lane, widened cycle lane, and revamped bus stops and traffic signals. All of which makes it much easier to travel between the centre of Brighton, the universities, the American Express Community Stadium and Stanmer Park, as well as residential areas.

  

What is amazing is the amount of fuss caused by such schemes when they are being planned and installed. Travelling (by bus) along the Lewes Road in the peaks last week, I’d observe that everything seems to be working pretty smoothly. It is hard to believe the brouhaha about the Lewes Road  scheme, which some seemed to think presaged the end of the world as we know it. But, as the endowment effect,inertia bias and the status quo bias from behavioural economics show, people hate to have things taken away from them – even when what replaces it is better.

Before: Lewes Road at the Vogue Gyratory - note cyclists

The Lewes Road scheme is one of a number of sustainable transport improvements around Brighton and Hove, which have included investing in better bus services, installing cycle contraflows and 20mph zones, as well as upgrading public spaces. These schemes, designed to change people’s transport behaviour by making it easier to take low-carbon options, have featured in a recent approving blog post by a staffer at the ClimateChange Committee. The post notes that, against a worrying national trend towards increasing carbon emissions from transport, developments in our city like the Lewes Road scheme and others,  

“make walking, cycling and taking the bus a much more attractive option. Car ownership in Brighton is currently the lowest in South East England, cycling to work doubled between 2001 and 2011, as did the number of bus journeys between 1993 and 2013.”

With the change in administration that took place in May 2015, and the switch to a Labour-controlled council, another long awaited scheme, for Valley Gardens, has been put on hold pending further work on traffic modelling. Let’s hope that this doesn’t mean that the long overdue improvements to the City’s main gateway, from St. Peter’s Church to the Palace Pier, has been kicked into the long grass, never to be seen again. Because if it has, it’s the worst possible news for pedestrians and cyclists, and anyone one else who believes that Valley Gardens deserves a better fate than being a congested and fume-laded traffic corridor, a river of vehicles which currently divides our city.

Lewes Road for Clean Air + Bike Train: Annual General Meeting

Not only is Lewes Road for Clean Air + Bike Train approaching its fifth anniversary, it’s also getting to be time for the AGM, which will be at 7pm on Thursday 3rd April at the Circus Street Bike Hub, Brighton BN2 9QF.

All are welcome to join in with LRfCA+BT and celebrate:

• 1,000+ bike train rides
• highlighting air pollution and the need for a more sustainable approach to transport along the Lewes Road
• contributing to the redesign of the City Council's major £1.5m Lewes Road infrastructure improvements
• helping deliver a shift away from car dependency (-13%) toward more journeys by bus (+7%) & by bike (nearly doubling in 5 yrs)

As LRfCA+BT rightly say, it has been a year which has seen “the biggest positive transformation of the Lewes Road in over a generation.” And some may recall the explosions of outrage from motorists when the scheme was unveiled - are they now watching? The traffic flows smoothly along the Lewes Road,  cyclists are safer, and buses go about their business. All are welcome at the AGM, and there will be refreshments.

Lewes Road for Clean Air

Tonight is the Lewes Road for Clean Air & Bike Train AGM 'BIKE TO THE FUTURE.' It’s at The Lectern pub, Lewes Road, Brighton (opposite B&Q). It starts at 6pm, and includes discussion about next steps for the Lewes Road and how to shift from 2% to 10% of journeys by bike in the coming years.

Lewes Road, Brighton

Here’s a newsletter from the team working on the scheme to turn Brighton’s Lewes Road into a place that’s less polluted, and more friendly to pedestrians, bikes and buses. The Lewes Road is currently recording NO2 pollution that is 50% above the legally permitted level (see previous post). The health effects of NO2, most of which is caused by traffic exhaust, are covered in this report from the World Health Organisation. The Lewes Road scheme can’t happen soon enough.

Car Park Or Bike Lane?

There are several possible explanations for the above picture (no Photoshopping), seen on Brighton’s Lewes Road:
1. Even though it has two more wheels than a bike, plus an engine, and is enclosed in metal, it’s only a small car. So it’s pretty much a bike.
2. As Brighton’s has so many weird bike lanes why not be even more weird – park a car on one.
3. Putting a car on the pavement is consistent with Brighton and Hove City Council’s policy of carving out part of the pavement for bike lanes. Since a car also has wheels, what’s the difference?
4. When a driver needs somewhere convenient to park, and the chances of getting a ticket are practically zero, why not use a handy bike lane?
Perhaps there are other explanations? Feel free…..

Improvements to Lewes Road, Brighton

Brighton’s Argus newspaper recently carried a double-page spread on plans for the Lewes Road (of which the Vogue Gyratory, seen above, is a key challenge). The plans involve spending around £4m, sourced from central government’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund. The aim is to improve one of Brighton’s busiest roads, reduce carbon emissions, and cut air pollution: Lewes Road is currently the city's second worst area for air quality. As well as Smarter Travel type “soft” measures, plans for physical alterations include:

• upgrades to public transport facilities such as real time bus signs, bus shelters & accessible bus stops
• cycling improvements
• traffic signal upgrades
• pedestrian improvements along Lewes Road
• better links to the new South Downs National Park

According to the Argus, “motorists” are unhappy with the plans. Hence my letter in response to the article, published in today’s Argus.
“Dear Sir

The Argus report (20 March) on plans for the Lewes Road made interesting reading. Living Streets Brighton and Hove Group welcomes this long-overdue plan, which should begin to address the problems of air quality, safety and congestion which currently afflict this area.

Your intrepid reporter would have got a different perspective on the need for these changes if, rather than getting in his car and driving along Lewes Road, he was to experience it as a bus user, a cyclist or a pedestrian.

The comments in the article from some motorists were sadly predictable. It would be interesting to ask motorists why they believe that their interests come before other people. I’m thinking of those who live in the area, and other users of Lewes Road - on foot, on a bike, or on a bus. This question seems particularly relevant as the data shows that, each day, there are 25,000 car journeys (mostly single-occupancy) and 35,000 bus passengers in Lewes Road – indicating that “motorists” are in the minority.

Yours sincerely”

A Change is Gonna Come: Lewes Road, Brighton

Big changes are coming to transport in and around Brighton’s Lewes Road over the next 3 years, with a major project funded through the Government’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund (LSTF). Brighton and Hove City Council ran a consultation in November and December 2011, which garnered over 550 responses (full results to be published here.  Responses showed that:

• Bus was the most frequently used form of transport amongst respondents, followed by cycling and then car
• Most people said their journey along Lewes Road was either poor or very poor
• The most commonly identified problems were: traffic congestion, parking in cycle lanes, narrow cycle lanes, and The Vogue Gyratory
• The most commonly suggested improvements were cycling improvements (particularly at The Vogue Gyratory), improved traffic flow, improved road safety, and quicker bus journey times.

As a result, big changes will be happening along the Lewes Road, with plans going out for consultation in April 2012. Some minor changes are already under way, aimed at reducing congestion, improving air quality, and improving conditions for cyclists. Sam Cooke’s 1964 R& B classic wasn’t about transport policy, nor the Lewes Road, but he still gets the last words,

It’s been a long, long time comin’
But I know a change’s gon’ come, oh yes it will

Lewes Road For Clean Air

Lewes Road for Clean Air & Bike Train is holding its Annual General Meeting and day conference on Saturday 4th February, 2-6pm at the Phoenix Community Centre, 2 Phoenix Place, Brighton, BN2 9ND (behind the Phoenix gallery opposite St. Peter's Church).
According to co-ordinator Duncan Blinkhorn, “It's been an eventful year for Bike Train, with our biggest ever ride involving 250 pedalling to Lewes for Bonfire Night, our first bike trains to schools including one with fifteen 7-9year olds from St Martin's Primary School to Stanmer Park plus weekly rides to Dorothy Stringer, Varndean & Patcham high schools and Davigdor Infants. Also our 'Bike to the Future' contribution to a utopian themed White Night. We have also welcomed the major £4.2 million government investment from the DfT's Local Sustainable Transport Fund for the Lewes Road and look forward to the improvements that this will deliver.”
Some of the activities planned for 2012 include:
- Bike Trains to B&H Albion matches at the Amex Stadium
- Bike Trains to schools and to other events
- Highlighting the problems of air pollution along the Lewes Road
- Updates on the £4.2 million LSTF programme
- What should a sustainable Lewes Road corridor look like?
- Developing a cycling vision for the Lewes Road
- Weekend Park & Ride
- Plans for the Brighton Bike Fest
More details from Duncan on 07944 152706

Resistance: Not Always Futile

Seen in Lewes Road, Brighton: a bit of agitprop graffiti on the boarded-up window of an empty (new) shop. On the site of what used to be a petrol station. Which became a community garden. Which became a shop, which was, nearly, a Tesco, which the locals didn’t want…

Off-Road, On-Pavement

Any child knows that roads are for cars and pavements are for people. Sadly, some drivers are less well informed. This one used the off-road capabilities of his 4x4 to climb the massive kerb of Brighton’s Lewes Road to plonk his tankette on the pavement. Clearly, this was a life or death mission that justified blocking the pavement to all other users. Which is just as well, since, to quote Living Streets:

• People with disabilities, and parents with children in pushchairs are those most affected by vehicles blocking the pavement;
• The damage from pavement parking costs every local authority thousands of pounds every year in maintenance and repair;
• Any signs and physical prevention measures are both expensive and serve only to clutter the street environment;
• Enforcement of the laws can be self-financing, with no cost to the public purse;
• We should be taking pride in our streets rather than cluttering and damaging the pavements through inconsiderate parking.

Clearly, these arguments aren’t as persuasive as they could be - just out of frame of this shot, taken from a bus with steamy windows, a police car sat waiting at the traffic lights at the bottom of Elm Grove.

Red Mist: Spot the Bike Lane

There is a cycle lane from Brighton to Falmer and ownwards. Or is there? Along the Lewes Road, a very busy route, the bike lane is frequently blocked by parked cars and vans and scattered with broken glass. And sometimes the bike lane disappears just when you most need it.  As seen here, in this view from the bus as it traverses what used to be known as the Vogue Gyratory, past the brick shed that is the Lewes Road Sainsburys, and into the traffic maelstrom. Bike lane, what bike lane?