davieG Posted 9 July 2014 Posted 9 July 2014 £1.7 million cycle-friendly overhaul of Leicester's busy St Nicholas' Circle revealed. By danjmartin | Posted: July 08, 2014 St Nicholas Circle Comments (19)The roads around one of Leicester’s busiest junctions are to be narrowed to make more space for cyclists and pedestrians. Highways bosses at Leicester City Council have today unveiled £1.7 million plans to remodel the road network around St Nicholas’s Circle near the landmark Holiday Inn. Some 2,000 vehicles per hour (corr) use the roundabout each day in the morning and evening peak periods. City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby says the plan - the latest stage of his multi-million Connecting Leicester revamp of the city - will create easier access to some of the city’s attractions, such as Castle Gardens, the Roman Jewry Wall and St Mary de Castro church, which lie outside the 1960s ring road. New pedestrian crossings are to be put in place and lanes of traffic are to be replaced with cycle paths and foot routes. Some motorists fear reducing the amount of road they can use will inevitably create more disruption and delays on what is already, in the morning and evening rush hours, a heavily congested roundabout. Sir Peter has insisted the move will not mean more jams. He told the Mercury: “What matters is the capacity of the junctions not the width of the roads. “They said there would be traffic chaos when we took a lane out of Newark Street. It never happened. “We have already removed part of a lane (at St Nicholas’ Circle) and nobody has missed it. “What we will do is extend the network of cycling and pedestrian friendly routes in the city.” Sir Peter said St Nicholas’ Circle was a “daunting prospect” for cyclists and the new plans would allow them to pass by in safety. Under the plans the A47 by Castle Gardens will see one of its four lanes of traffic become a cycle lane where existing footpaths will be widened. The Southgates northbound slip road will drop from two lanes to one and Peacock Lane, approaching St Nicholas’ Circle, would be reduced from two lanes to one and a coach stop will be established. A new cycle lane will also be established on the Jewry Wall side of the roundabout where buses currently pull in. The council’s group transport and projects manager Barry Pritchard said: “We have modeled this and we know it will still function as a major junction. “At peak periods there may be a little more delay but most likely it will even out and people will not notice the difference. “This is about balancing the competing demands cyclists pedestrians and motorists.” Under the plans the Harvey Walk footbridge which spans the roundabout, passing between Holiday Inn and NCP car park, will be dismantled. SIr Peter described the bridge as precarious and said it confused people crossing it. The work is due to start in September, once the creation of the new £4 million Jubilee Square, in nearby St Nicholas’ Place, has finished. Motorist Matt Davidson, from Earl Shilton regularly drives into thecity centre via St Nicholas’s Circle. He said: “Fantastic. More road works and more congestion. “They might as well put a big sign up at Kirby Muxloe saying “Drivers turn back. Don’t waste your time.” “I might get shot for saying this but cars are more important than bikes. Fact. The mayor hasn’t seemed to grasp that and seems to want to make it as hard as possible for drivers to get into the city.” Sir Peter has denied he is anti-car. He said his plans to rationalise city centre parking demonstrated that motorists were welcome in Leicester. Leicester Cycling Campaign Group spokesman Eric Ludlow backed the plans. He said: “We are at one with more road space being given over to cyclists. “Drivers always moan to start with but they narrowed the road near The Magazine and it was fine. Nobody is complaining now. In fact they can’t remember what it was like before. St Nicholas’s Circle is a four lane giratory and it’s hell on earth for someone riding a bike.” Read more: http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/1-7-million-cycle-friendly-overhaul-Leicester-s/story-21343490-detail/story.html#ixzz36xtq1qgC Read more at http://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/1-7-million-cycle-friendly-overhaul-Leicester-s/story-21343490-detail/story.html#VBdmJKctt3Cs7SQw.99
kingcarr21 Posted 9 July 2014 Posted 9 July 2014 so many drivers forever cut across lanes on st Nicholas circle. If drivers actually got into the lane they wanted BEFORE getting onto st nicholas circle then a cycle lane coming in wouldnt affect the traffic much at all. Reducing the lanes in areas from 2 to 1 could work if drivers didnt forever change lanes and cause disruption. The amount of times you see people in the far right lane cut right across to turn left (towards A50 in pic) is massive. Having one lane going towards A594 nth would help with the merging of traffic with the traffic coming under the underpass. Even with traffic lights its still a free for all. restricting it to one lane may actually help
Bellend Sebastian Posted 9 July 2014 Posted 9 July 2014 The very first comment: "Pete's hatred of the motor vehicle just keeps on growing" I'm sure he hates cars, spending his spare time letting down their tyres, pissing on them and scratching 'Young Soulsby Rebels' in their paintwork. I own a car and I'm all for it. Hell, if it carries on at this rate it might be possible for me some day ride a bike into bike into town without wondering if I'll make it home alive
Soar Fox Posted 9 July 2014 Posted 9 July 2014 I wonder how many visitors per year go and visit the "city's attractions" I don't know if it's me being ignorant but I've only heard of Jewry wall, and that's only because I went on a school trip years ago.
Bellend Sebastian Posted 9 July 2014 Posted 9 July 2014 I wonder how many visitors per year go and visit the "city's attractions" I don't know if it's me being ignorant but I've only heard of Jewry wall, and that's only because I went on a school trip years ago. Probably relatively few to the ones listed in the article, and it's long been seen as an issue that the inner ring road seems to be perceived as the edge of the city centre, meaning that anything that sits outside of it goes unnoticed. I don't know if all these grand projects are going to help that, but I can certainly see the logic
davieG Posted 9 July 2014 Author Posted 9 July 2014 Newarke St is a fvcking nightmare! I've been down it more 30 times in the last few months and never seen a cyclist on the cycle path, plenty of pedestrians, parked delivery vehicles though.
DB11 Posted 9 July 2014 Posted 9 July 2014 That comment about Newarke Street is ridiculous... cutting down one lane has caused chaos
DennisNedry Posted 9 July 2014 Posted 9 July 2014 Sorry but cars should have priority on roads. Soulsby seems intent on making the City a big traffic jam.
Soar Fox Posted 9 July 2014 Posted 9 July 2014 Sorry but cars should have priority on roads. Soulsby seems intent on making the City a big traffic jam. The new bus lane down Lutterworth road going into town has been a great succsess....
ADK Posted 9 July 2014 Posted 9 July 2014 I don't mind really. City centres are never going to be fast roads.
MooseBreath Posted 9 July 2014 Posted 9 July 2014 Stupid idea which will just do more harm to city centre businesses. With the money it will cost you could build an elevated cycle path covering any direction of travel anyone would wish to make without making things more difficult for the majority who drive cars. Environmental arguments are increasingly irrelevant too.
Bellend Sebastian Posted 9 July 2014 Posted 9 July 2014 That comment about Newarke Street is ridiculous... cutting down one lane has caused chaos Really? It was a short stretch of 3 lanes fed by 2 from all approaches that then went down to 2 again just beyond the New Walk Centre on Welford Road, so all that ever happened was the traffic would spread out briefly before those that went into the outside lane had to push their way back in again. The capacity of the ring road to carry moving traffic has been reduced by 9 tenths of bugger all by this change
FoxesAreBlue Posted 9 July 2014 Posted 9 July 2014 I've been down it more 30 times in the last few months and never seen a cyclist on the cycle path, plenty of pedestrians, parked delivery vehicles though. I'm down there every day. I saw a cyclist today cycling on the pedestrian bit - amazing really as there are about 500 white cycle logos painted on the floor!
Julian Joachim Jr Shabadoo Posted 9 July 2014 Posted 9 July 2014 Being a motorcyclist, I like that Newarke Street is always at a standstill on my morning commute - by filtering I think I'm actually getting down there quicker than when it was 3 lanes! There also seems to be less people cutting across when it turns into Welford, people used to go round the bend in the right lane and swing over lanes to the left - saw it all the time, doesn't seem to be much if an issue now
OriginalRobboFOX Posted 10 July 2014 Posted 10 July 2014 FFS It's not enough to built some grand piazza (which has caused traffic havoc) where we'd just recently built a new car park replacing the old one. Now he's gonna start on this part of town again?!?!? Why not just do it all at once you dick. Hate Soulsby.
Soar Fox Posted 11 July 2014 Posted 11 July 2014 Anyone get caught in the censor on the motorway yesterday? 45 minutes late because of them cvnts.
Bellend Sebastian Posted 11 July 2014 Posted 11 July 2014 Anyone get caught in the censor on the motorway yesterday? 45 minutes late because of them cvnts. I can understand why they need to gather this information, but blimey, talking about making yourselves unpopular. There must be a less disruptive way of finding this stuff out, but I'm buggered if I know what it is
Soar Fox Posted 11 July 2014 Posted 11 July 2014 I can understand why they need to gather this information, but blimey, talking about making yourselves unpopular. There must be a less disruptive way of finding this stuff out, but I'm buggered if I know what it is Where you going, where have you been, where will you park when you get there? And the best one... What mobile phone network am I on.
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