MikeF wrote:I agree there do seem to be some issues for cyclists in the proposed scheme whereby it appears motor traffic for Hollingdean Rd has to cross a cycle lane as well as for cyclists turning right either from Lewes or from Brighton.
However I don't understand how your plan helps either cyclists or motor vehicles.
The plan isn't intended to help motor vehicles.
The existing layout ie a giratory - is a device to speed the flow of motor traffic at the expense of all other road users. These create fast moving streams merging and filtering traffic that are hostile for cyclists and pedestrians. I would have thought it was entirely uncontroversial that such a layout was very much worse for cyclists than a conventional 2-way street. Thus reverting the layout to a conventional 2-way street (which it will have been at some point in the past) would be a huge help to cyclists.
Sticking cycle lanes round the edge of a giratory does absolutely nothing to help cyclists - it merly reinforces the conflicts that are inherent in the basic layout. Cyclists still have to cross streams of high speed filtering traffic, whether the particular bit of tarmac they are riding on has cycle symbols painted onm it or not.
As far as I can see, a major problem appears to be there just isn't room to do what you are suggesting without demolishing the many properties in the middle of the gyratory.
Nothing in my suggestion involves creating any extra road space. The stretch of Lewes Road that is currently part of the giratory is every bit as wide as the 2-way continuation heading towards Brighton.
For instance at the moment there are 3 lanes going towards Brighton centre, bus/cycle, general traffic and a right filter to Upper Lewes Road.
Indeed so.
And the plan as I explaind would be to convert this to one wide lane heading away from Brighton, and a narrow general traffic narrow lane and a bus lane heading towards Brighton.
True, there would be a reduction in capacity that would make such a proposal anathema to most councils - but we are talking about the green party in power in Brighton - and they have already showed willing to reduce the capacity of the dual carriageway leading to the giratory. This would just mean that that stretch of Lewes Road had a single general traffic lane in each direction - just like the rest of Lewes Road now does.
If you have don't have the gyratory you will lose the filter right lane as this will become the carriageway to Lewes, if I understand your plan correctly, and without the cycle lane
IF the junction were to be configured as traffic lights then you would need to stop the bus lane on the approach to make way for a short right hand filter lane.
IF it was to be a compact roundabout then there would be no need for the right hand filter.
and without the cycle lane
As I explained, the aim of the plan is to improve conditions for cyclists - not to find somewhere to paint cycle symbols.
And since narrow cycle lanes such as that make conditions worse for cyclists then not having a cycle lane is a benefit.