Watford Road north cycle facilities consultation

We are being consulted (16 July 2009) on new cycle facilities on Watford Road North near Northwick Park Hospital. This forms part of London Cycle Network Plus 19 route (LCN+ 19). The proposals follow on from a Cycle Route Inspection Stakeholder Meeting (CRIM) we took part in a couple of years ago which suggested shared cycle/pedestrian paths on both sides of Watford Road all the way between Northwick Park Roundabout and Carlton Avenue West.

The Council's PDF consultation plan is attached. This relates only to the northern part of this section, near the hospital. The proposals are for:

• Footway widening on the west side of Watford Road to make the shared path continuous along there
• Pedestrian crossing converted to Toucan for cyclists as well
• Two shorter sections of shared path on the east side of Watford Road
• Entry treatment at hospital access road

Note that not covered is the bypasses to the roundabout, which are supposed to be a separate Harrow scheme (LCN+ Link 89)

Brent Cyclists Current Opinion

We agree with the measures on the west side and the Toucan crossing. We have a concern about what is proposed for the east side. This seems to be conceived as catering for access to the hospital and university, but does not appear to cater for those will be using Watford Road as a through route, travelling from the east or north (Kenton or Kingsbury) towards Sudbury and Wembley, who will not want to swap sides on Watford Road. Using Watford Road southbound carriageway is currently awkward and dangerous due to the long left filter lane leading into the hospital and university, which necessitates straight-on cyclists occupying the centre lane. The proposals offer no solution to this.

We propose an amendment to the plan shown in an amended PDF attached. This would make the cycle path (or shared path) continuous on the east side and route it across the hospital/university access road at its narrowest point and also across the egress road to the south. We propose that the cycle track should have priority across all three roads (these two and the one shown with the entry treatment in the original plan), shown by give way markings for vehicles, with warnings to cyclists to look in the correct direction before proceeding. Because the first two roads are one-way and the crossings can be sited away from the actual turn in to or out from  Watford Way,  this should not create a problem. Being used for emergency vehicles, entry treatments probably are not possible. Clearly cyclists would be expected to give way to emergency vehicles on an emergency, as in normal roads practice. Because these roads are so close together, if cyclists had to give way at each of them to all crossing traffic, or use push-button crossings, most of the utility of this path would be lost. On our proposal it would form a useful link for through-cyclists on Watford Road and a safer and easier alternative than using the carriageway.

Comments on the original plan and our proposal are invited. Add them below or send them to the Brent Cyclists Yahoo! group.