On the 13th July 2021, plans for Old Shoreham Road’s Temporary Cycle Lanes in Brighton and Hove were made public following consultation. While the Cycle Lanes were initially put in as an emergency measure before the Emergency Active Travel Fund was announced, they are now subjected to the active travel fund Tranche 2. The initial plans was to extend the temporary lanes all the way to the West Sussex border, however due to feedback from consultation from earlier in the year it has been decided to not pursue this extension at the moment, instead making amends to the current temporary lanes.
Check out our latest blog post, which debunks some popular myths about cycle lanes on the OSR in Hove.
3,168 residents responded to the consultation for changes and extension to the cycle lanes on Old Shoreham Road with the biggest concern about the current lanes being dangers at junctions. A large amount of residents are against the scheme with the main reasons being related congestion and lack of cyclists using it. An extension of the lane was supported by 20.4% of responses, while 79.6% were against. As a result the lanes will not be extended at the current time, however it can be expected that in a future scheme cycle and/or bus lanes will replace at least a single lane of the dual carriageway. A full breakdown of the consultation response can be found here
The Plans
On the Western end of the temporary lanes there will be new signage to advise motorists to merge in turn. However this signage does appear to be wrong as it should be black on yellow and only to merge in turn after the junction rather than before. At this stage there is no proposal to make access to and from the closed off side roads onto the cycle lanes.One of the larger changes is to the turning lanes at Stapley Road and Olive Road. This will allow 5 more vehicles to wait to turn right into Olive Road, but reduce the capacity for turning into Stapley Road. I personally think this is the wrong way around and right turns should be banned into Olive Road and traffic should turn right at the lights before hand which is safer. Alternatively the road bridge on Olive Road could be closed to motor vehicles which would achieve a similar goal, and provide a better route for cyclists heading south from OSRSome of the traffic light controlled junctions are getting better markings which hopefully will reduce side swipes and left hooks. Advance Stop Lines are also going to be installed along with “Cycle Priority” which I can assume is Low Level Cycle Signals (LLCS) which go green prior to the main signals.Much of the junction with Newtown Road is being rebuilt with a dedicated two-phase pedestrian crossing, currently it is uncontrolled. The junction will also feature ASLs, priority and markings like the prior two junctions. The uncontrolled pedestrian crossing island adjacent to Hove Park will also be moved to allow the cycle lane to continue past it.
