A Brief Roundabout History

I grew up in Venlo, the Netherlands. The self-styled capital of Noord-Limburg and home of the best football team on earth. Recently Mark Wagenbuur in his excellent blog commented on Dutch roundabouts, especially in relation to provision for cyclists.

At the end he remarks:

“Dutch roundabout with priority for cyclists on the circular separated cycle path all around the roundabout. This type of design is for the built-up area. This is also the design of the Amsterdam roundabout of the videos in this post and also the design TfL is testing. These roundabouts have existed since 1992 when the first one was built in Enschede.”

Koninginneplein

I commented that Venlo has a roundabout that had priority for cyclists from at least the mid-1970s. It turns out the roundabout (or more precisely, circle) has an interesting history.

The roundabout was constructed in the post-war years when urban planners and architects were given a blank canvas to build a modern city. Venlo had suffered horrendously from Allied bombing raids during the Second World War.

Rail and road bridges 1939

Venlo was and still is the main crossing point across the river Maas, a railway junction, and as an added bonus to the Allied aircrews the Germans constructed an airfield on the heath to the east of the city.

Fliegerhorst Venlo

The bombing raids left most of the city centre in ruins.

After the war the rubble was piled into what is now the Julianapark, and the railway line to Straelen and onwards to Geldern was dismantled. This left a great wedge to the east of the city centre available for grand projects.

The station was moved westward and the square in front became the regional bus station. The station was completed in 1958.

This was the station in the early 1960s.

1958 (from top left) Koninginneplein, station, Koninginnesingel, Roermondsepoort gyratory

Somewhere along the line the projects slipped into mediocre provincial apartment blocks and wide unwelcoming boulevards: the Koninginnesingel and the Burgemeester van Rijnsingel. Elsewhere in the city centre the medieval street pattern was maintained with narrow pedestrianised shopping precincts, passages and alleys.

The Koninginneplein roundabout was conceived by chief designer Jos Klijnen on a massive scale. The “traffic circuit” was part of the wider plan, the Brugplan, to reconstruct the city centre, replace the temporary bridges and provide adequate capacity and give pride of place to the motor car.
Even in the Netherlands it was the age of the car. People left their bikes in the shed and took to the streets in their DAF cars.

The Koninginneplein had three concentric rings of traffic, a separate cycle lane and pedestrian crossings. What marked out this circle was the priority rules for traffic on the circle. Until 1992 roundabouts in the Netherlands had the following priority rules: traffic on the roundabout gives way to traffic approaching on the side roads. This circle gave priority to all traffic, including pedestrians and cyclists, on the roundabout.

This view shows the large triangular yield signs on the Keulsepoort approach (middle right) and the diamond signifying a priority route on the circle in the foreground.

In primary school we were taught this roundabout had unique “German” priority rules. Because, it was said, of the large number of German cars using the roundabout. To comply with Dutch law it wasn’t, strictly speaking, a roundabout, rather a circular three-lane highway.

At the time of construction the planners could not have conceived their circle would meet the demands of modern traffic with little change, other than the addition of lane markings and a monumental fountain by Wim Berkhemer constructed in 1964.

The above picture, dated ca. 2009, shows typical congestion.

Traffic converges on the roundabout from the Kaldenkerkerweg (the road to Germany, linking to the A61 until the A74 was built, bypassing the city to the south), the Burgemeester van Rijnsingel (the N271 to the north, linking to the A67, and to Geldern), the Keulsepoort (entry to the city centre), the Koninginnesingel (the N271 to the south, also linking to the western half of the city and the A73) and the Stationsplein (access to the bus and train station).

In the early 1980s buses were given their own lanes along the Koninginnesingel to allow them to bypass the chronic traffic congestion.

Since the1980s several road-building projects were carried out to take traffic out of the city centre.

To the east, the Klagenfurtlaan was built to take traffic from the German A61 to the Dutch A67 Antwerp to Duisburg motorway. The second Maas crossing followed in the 1990s, a part of the new A73 Nijmegen-Roermond motorway.
Finally, in the late 2000s the aforementioned A74, linking the A61 and Dutch A73, was completed. The Klagenfurtlaan is now essentially redundant.

Despite these massive projects, up to 50,000 vehicles daily continued to use the Koninginneplein. (If ever proof were needed that road-building generates more traffic, then these motorways prove the point.)

In addition to all the cars 1000s of cyclists and pedestrians also use the circle. Clearly, with congestion an every-day, all-day occurence something had to be done.

Another consideration was the separation between the station and the city centre.

So how would British planners tackle the problem?

Firstly, they’d banish pedestrians and cyclists into subterranean underpasses.

Then, they’d probably put an elevated 2×2 dual carriageway over the top, and regulate the traffic on the circle with lights.

Finally, they would grudgingly add provision for cyclists and pedestrians at ground level because the underpasses are used by the homeless, drug users, grafitti artists and skate boarding youth.

Tunnel

The standard Dutch design for a roundabout with one circle of traffic and a separate circle for cyclists does not mix well with 50,000 vehicles a day. However, the replacement circle is exactly that: a single lane for motorised traffic, with separation for cyclists and pedestrians.

Despite building roads to bypass the city and limiting access to the Kaldenkerkerweg by banning HGV, congestion was still a feature of the Koninginneplein and its principal approach roads, the Koninginnesingel and Burgemeester van Rijnsingel.

Rather than putting a wide dual carriageway over the top, a 2 lane road was planned to go underneath. The natural incline (we are not in Holland, after all) in the Koninginnesingel also makes a tunnel a more easily engineered option.

Putting a tunnel underneath to take the bulk of the traffic off the roundabout has the added bonus of making the Koninginneplein a more personal, living space. Added to closing off the Keulsepoort and redeveloping the Stationsplein, the space is much improved.

Pedestrians now can stroll across from the station to the Limburgs Museum, or down the Keulsepoort into town for shopping or a leisurely drink in one of the many bars along the Parade.
Cyclists of any age can safely navigate the roundabout, knowing that the never-ending flood of traffic is beneath their wheels.

Work was started in 2009, but due to two consecutive severe winters not finished until the spring of 2011. Despite the delay it was still ready before the start of the Floriade. Another grand project, the Maasboulevard, was delivered in the same year, finally filling the last gaps left by Allied bombs.

Contractors constructed the tunnel in a trench, which was then covered over.

Somewhere along the way the central sculpture got damaged, but it was restored. 47 years of traffic grime was also removed from its surface.

And isn’t the end result pretty?

Rat runs – a shortcut to the future?

Most neighbourhoods have one: that residential street that somehow has become a convenient shortcut for commuters, a bypass for a busy junction.
Councils, after residents’ complaints, sometimes act by installing speedbumps. Subsequently residents complain about the “bump-scrape” as cars hit the ramp. The installation of speedbumps does not deter motorists from using a rat run.
In some cases, councils block the road altogether. The closing of Barrack Street, a rat run between Grosvenor Road and Divis Street in Belfast prompted me to contemplate the wider picture.

Belfast is massively car-orientated, more so than any other city in the UK. In a nutshell, we are still dealing with the consequence of 1960s car-centred politics, for instance the Benson Report recommended closing all but the Dublin-Belfast railway line and the commuter line to Bangor. Another example is the Jetsons-esque and grotesque Belfast Urban Motorway Plan, that appears to live on in the minds of Regional Development civil servants. The legacy of the Troubles was chronic underinvestment in public transport. All these have left Belfast more car-dependent than other similar-sized UK cities.

The Department of Regional Development for Northern Ireland uses design guides for new road design, which in their introduction restate the dominance of car-based transport now and for the foreseeable future. It would be better were they to start with the mindset of the pedestrian. After all, we are all pedestrians. But that is a blog for another day.

The NIGreenways blog asks what can be done to promote cycling in Belfast. We are not going to get Dutch-style separation of traffic flows without major investment and political leadership. Suggested are 13 ways to promote cycling in 2013.

Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, has launched a £1bln cycling scheme for London. That may seem a lot of money, but consider this: the NI Executive is prepared to blow a similar amount of money on one road, the A5. Taking into account the population size, the A5 is a far more expensive plan, with far less economic benefit than Johnson’s grand cycling plan.

Sustrans have long campaigned for safe routes to school and liveable neighbourhoods.

Can Belfast address all these issues on the cheap? And do it well, so it serves local communities and keep traffic flowing? It has to be cheap because DRD prefer spending all of the road budget on large headline-grabbing car infrastructure.

The problem with rat runs

Neighbourhood residential streets have numerous driveways and junctions with limited visibility. The streets are meant for access to properties. Also, they provide a space for social interaction between neighbours; a place for children to play.

Once through-traffic starts using a neighbourhood street the people retreat from it, because of the perceived and real danger of cars at 30mph driving past. Walking and cycling are discouraged by the volume and speed of traffic.

In addition there is added road noise, made worse if speedbumps are introduced: the “bump-scrape” mentioned above, and the noise of cars accelerating to 30mph, only to slow down again for the next bump.

And are they a short-cut in distance travelled? Do they save time? My observations (not scientifically proven) suggest they don’t. If a car leaves a batch of traffic on a main road and follows a rat run, they rejoin the same batch of traffic further on. The motorist’s advantage taking the rat run is taken away where they need to rejoin the main traffic flow. Often, lengthy queues build up on side streets where the rat run ends.

A special circle of hell is reserved for the makers of SatNav systems and Google Maps. Choose the shortest route option and you will often be directed down neighbourhood streets, unsuited to through-traffic.

I mentioned that Barrack Street has been closed off, after ramps failed to deter rats running. Closing the street forced traffic back to the main road at College Square East, designed for large traffic flows.

Barrack Street Barricade – not particularly attractive.

Let me illustrate with a couple of South Belfast examples. I apologise for these “posh” rat runs. For almost all of the past 21 years I’ve lived in South Belfast. I’m familiar with its streets and know many of its residents.

1. The One-Way Rat Run: Strangford Avenue, Balmoral

Strangford Avenue is a tree-lined quiet residential street where well-to-do residents own and have built large properties. It is slap-bang in the middle of the desirable BT9 postcode. You cannot get a more des res. Until the morning rush hour.

Belfast city centre-bound rats leave the House of Sport roundabout at Dorchester Park, turn left down Malone Hill Park and then choose either to go straight across up Shrewsbury Park to join Balmoral Avenue, or turn left down Strangford Avenue, and turn right at one of the Harbertons (Drive, Avenue or Park) and rejoin Balmoral Avenue further down the queue of traffic. If traffic starts building up on the Malone Road, rats also turn left at Rosemary Park, Malone Hill Park and Mount Eden Park.

Speedbumps have been installed to stem the flow of through traffic throughout the neighbourhood.

In 2012 a sewage mains replacement necessitated closing off Strangford Avenue at the junction with Malone Hill Park. For four blissful weeks my wife and I cycled along the tree-lined avenues in near silence. Simply closing Strangford Avenue pushed the rats back out to the main route along the Malone Road and Balmoral Avenue. Closing off the road meant fewer chose to go down Dorchester Park, and there were no queues at the end of Harberton Park.
Some rats still persisted by choosing to use the Shrewsbury Park exit, but numbers were far fewer.

A further measure to deter rats could be making Shrewsbury Park one way flowing from Balmoral Avenue to the junction with Malone Hill Park, so rats are forced back up Mount Eden Park towards the Malone Road.

As my wife and I cycled along chatting we remarked how good it would be if it was like this all the time. For once we could cycle and chat without trying to make ourselves heard over road noise.

The big question is, would Strangford Avenue residents put up with the inconvenience of living in a cul-de-sac, and a longer driving distance to the Malone Road, in return for a quiet morning?

2. The two-way rat run: Knightsbridge Park, Stranmillis

Strangford Avenue is quiet in the evenings. Rats see little benefit waiting to cross west-bound traffic down Balmoral Avenue to enter the maze.

Knightsbridge Park is different. Whatever the time of day, whatever the day of the week, rats will use this run to bypass the traffic lights at the Stranmillis Road junction with the Malone Road.

If you travel city-bound on Malone Road past the Newforge Lane junction you see people filtering into the lefthand lane. Why? There is a queue of rats in the righthand lane waiting to enter the run at Deramore Drive and further down at Bladon Drive.

Traffic from Deramore Drive joins Bladon Drive, then turns left onto Knightsbridge Park.

Coming from the Stranmillis Road roundabout a lot of traffic goes straight up Richmond Park, leading to Knightsbridge Park, rather than veering right along Stranmillis Road. The road lay-out encourages rats to enter the run.

There is a good reason people might go here. Stranmillis Primary School is halfway down the run and many parents drop their children off and pick them up again at the school gate.

The roadworks at Strangford Avenue pointed out where the rat run could be closed off permanently. Where can Knightsbridge Park be blocked off? People still need access to the school.

Let’s consider the options.

At the bottom of Bladon Drive there is a T-junction. Knightsbridge Park is to the left. To the right is a small cul-de-sac, Bladon Court. The connection between Bladon Drive and Knightsbridge Park could be severed. This option would not allow access to the school from the Malone Road. Not ideal.

The second option is closing off or reshaping the lower junction of Stranmillis Road and Richmond Park, pictured above. This might cut back Malone Road-bound traffic. Because this is a two-way rat run, however, Stranmillis-bound traffic would start using the more dangerous upper junction. Not a real solution either.

Stranmillis Primary School occupies a cramped site on the corner of Knightsbridge Park and Cricklewood Park. The crescent of Richmond Park completes a triangular space.

What if Knightsbridge Park was closed off completely at the school, allowing only pedestrians and cyclists through? And if the school was allowed to claim some of this space?
Parents could still drive down to the school from either end of the rat run and drop off their children. (In an ideal world they shouldn’t have to, but Belfast is a long way from ideal.)

The aim of closing rat runs is to stop through-traffic from using unsuitable neighbourhood streets, but more than that, also to reclaim streets for social interaction between neighbours, for children playing, for walking the dog. A school, such as Stranmillis Primary School, is at the heart of neighbourhood life. Parents gather at the school gate, meet and chat. Let’s imagine a space where this social interaction can happen; a soft-surface play area, bounded by some planters and benches, perhaps.

And what better place to put this, than at the school gates? No longer need pupils fear cars rushing past outside their school.

Hillside Court, opposite the school, can be dead-ended for cars: there is an alternative access from Stranmillis Road to this street at Broomhill Park.

Closing off the run would lead to a greatly improved traffic flow on the Malone Road, when rats no longer block the city-bound overtaking lane to turn right down Deramore Drive or Bladon Drive.

Reclaiming rat runs for cyclists

In the two examples above we have closed off, boldly, two well-known South Belfast rat runs. Cars are now only entering the neighbourhoods for access to properties, to drop children off at the school, and we have forced through-traffic back onto the main roads where it belongs. The streets fall quiet at rush hour, children come out to play and the sun dapples the leaves of the trees lining the avenues.

Belfast is failing to implement a coherent network of cycle lanes. Advisory cycle lanes are really parking lay-bys; bus lanes are bus and taxi lanes (also here) and Belfast on the Move pretty much ignores cycling as a serious means of transport, relegating the interests of cyclists below car parking and the interests of the partially-sighted.

But now we have quiet streets in two neighbourhoods. And with some more imaginitive blocking we can close off a few more rat runs: Orpen Park, Diamond Gardens and Grangeville Gardens (all in Finaghy), Church Avenue (Dunmurry), Trossachs Drive (Upper Malone).

East of the Lagan there are two notable rat runs ripe for blocking: Ravenhill Park and Cherryville Street/My Lady’s Road.

I am sure there is a rat run near you in Greater Belfast. My apologies for the gap in my local knowledge about your area.

Soon quiet neighbourhoods are spreading across Belfast. Putting in place a 20mph speed limit will also help to make streets liveable.

Sustrans campaign for Safe Routes to Schools, with the aim to make the school journey “safer, healthier and more enjoyable for everyone”. Closing rat runs in my opinion can serve two purposes: taking cars away from residential areas and encouraging parents and children to walk or cycle to school.

My vision goes wider: we could use our becalmed streets to make a web of safe routes across our city, linking schools, libraries, local shops, health centres. Reconnect communities, previously driven apart by cars. In London they are called Quietways. And these quiet ways are ideal for cyclists to get around the city.

It will be important that neighbourhood residents, schools, local businesses all buy into the vision that stopping cars using rat runs is a good thing. When local businesses are pleading with the DRD to roll back Urban Clearway restrictions in South Belfast business support for traffic calming measures cannot be counted on. Residents will be more easily persuaded, provided they are shown what a difference blocking a rat run has made to a local community elsewhere. They also need to be given ownership of the project, given input. They know their streets and communities best. Perhaps my suggestions above are not suitable or workable, but the local residents might know of a better place to block a road and deter rats.

Speedbumps have not worked. Let’s try something different so these rat runs might yet become a short-cut to a people-friendly future.

Road Tax

Going 30kmh across Europe

“30 km/h (20mph) – Making Streets Liveable!“

The European Citizens´ Initiative                               

News Nr 1 8th February 2013:

The French ECI partner organisations launched an exciting press conference in Paris. They got a huge media response and almost 600 people signed online within one weekend: setting a record.
Congratulations to you!

You may have noticed that we´ve been struggling through problems with the EU commission´s software, meaning a long December waiting for these to be fixed. But we are now able to collect signatures in 15 languages. You can sign online on www.30kmh.eu and also download forms and print them out.The first regional contact points for physical signatures are already running well. A great big “Thanks” to all who are providing the facilities!

It took us some time to restart after all the fuss about the online collection software working only in one single language. Some people are still contacting us complaining about technical failures and that they cannot sign. But we have now surpassed the mark of 14 000 online signatures: Never before have so many people applied for a 30 km/h (20mph) speed limit in Europe!

And the numbers are still rising: indeed, they have been coming in even faster over the last few days.

To watch them in real time see http://30kmh.eu/statistics/ 

We have a good chance of achieving our mission: collecting at least 1 million signatures by 13th November 2013. Please help us! 

30 km/h (20 mph) limits improve safety and encourage smarter travel choices. They cut pollution andtraffic noise and lead to improved traffic flow and less congestion. People can move without fear.

In a nutshell: our communities become safer, more active, more beautiful.   

Please promote our initiative. Use your media to do so: facebook, twitter, email, newsletters, magazines…. You can visit us on www.30kmh.eu and on facebook www.facebook.com/30kmh.eu

You can also donate to help us continue our initiative which is completely funded by donations.

(Sent to me by e-mail; reposted to raise awareness)

Taxis in Bus Lanes Sample Letter

Please copy and paste. Personalise it with the story of your commute, and how contending with taxis would make it worse for you. Use They Work For You to find your MLAs. Enter your postcode to find your six MLAs, follow the link to write to them. Select all six. Paste the text into the e-mail. Enter your details, send and confirm.

I am writing to you in the hope that you could use your influence and at the last minute dissuade the Minister for Regional Development, Danny Kennedy, from allowing taxis into bus lanes.

The decision to allow taxis into bus lanes will reverse the positive trend of cycling uptake achieved in recent years. The Minister’s decision flies in the face of best road design practise, disregards vulnerable road users’ health and safety and goes against DRD and DHSSPS’s stated aim at encouraging more people to take up active travel.

The 2011 census has revealed that in South and East Belfast the modal share of commuting cyclists now approaches 10%. This is despite the total lack of investment in cycling by the Department of Regional Development, and a paucity of support from the legislators at Stormont. Nearly 1 in 6 commuters in South and East Belfast use bike, bus or train. It is clear this is where the growth is happening and where investment needs to be targeted to sustain a positive and sustainable trend.

In contrast the share of people commuting by taxi has declined sharply in the period from 2001 to 2011.

The recent consultation got 71 responses, with only 7 in favour of the proposal. Of the 7, 3 were taxi companies with a vested interest. Those rejecting the proposal were dismissed as –it is reported- “a bunch of cyclists”. The impression gained by the public is that the consultation was a tick-box exercise, a “done-deal”, with the suspicion that money ended up in party coffers to help the Minister make the “right” decision.

Cyclists sharing with buses in bus lanes is not best practice, and across the EU municipalities are separating non-motorised traffic, pedestrians and motorised traffic. However, sharing with buses is better than sharing with buses and taxis. The average speed of a bus (at 9mph) and cyclist (at 12mph) are broadly similar. Bus drivers are professionals and mostly look out for other road users. Existing cyclists easily share with buses and potential cyclists, knowing there is relative safety in a bus lane, might take up cycling too.

However, whatever work was done painting lovely Advance Stop Lines and bicycle motifs on our roads will be undone by a deeply regressive step of opening up the bus lane to fast motorised traffic. The safety of other road users is at stake, in particular vulnerable road users. I would not like to be the first person to be scooped by a speeding taxi, get seriously injured or even killed.

I trust you will take this up with the Minister.

Thank you.

National Commuting Network

On 29 January on Twitter I had a “discussion” with Steven Patterson, from Sustrans NI and Roy White, Chair of NI Cycling Initiative.
It started off with my displeasure at bus’n'bike lanes and ended with me tweeting a link to Richard Ostler’s excellent blog. Richard points out that the National Cycle Network is ill-suited to the every-day commuter, because the NCN takes the least direct route from A to B. Also, it is often poorly surfaced.

It got me thinking about our own NCN9. It runs past our house on the opposite bank of the Lagan. Yet I hardly ever use it to commute to and from work.

In the morning I do the 3.6mile  school run to Finaghy, on the roads via the House of Sport and Musgrave Park Hospital and then go the additional 2.6mile to work, straight down the Lisburn Rd bus’n'bike lane.

I could take the NCN9 for the first mile, but there are two problems. The chicane at the Edenderry access gate is too short for the CargoBike and too narrow for the AT3 trailer and the Gilchrist Bridge at Edenderry is stepped, rather than ramped.

On the way home I have the choice. There are 3 routes:

• The first is to go the way I came, omitting the loop to my daughter’s school: Lisburn Rd, Balmoral Ave, Malone Rd, Milltown Rd, Ballylesson Rd, Edenderry Rd. This is 4.5 miles, has a total elevation gain of 189ft, and can achieve an average speed of 13.2mph for the route. Total travelling time is 20:36. Wind is a factor going up the Lisburn Rd. The prevailing wind is against me on most days. This route has 2 ASLs: one at the bottom of Jubilee Rd, the second at the Tate’s Avenue junction. There are no cycle lanes, but there is a shared path from the House of Sport to Shaw’s Bridge.
  

• The second (my preferred and shortest option) is to go down Elmwood Ave, then up University Rd and the Malone Rd. Then as above. This is 4.1 miles, has a total elevation gain of 217ft; average speed of 13.8mph. Travelling time is 17:59. The route is more sheltered. There are ASLs at Jubilee Rd, University Rd, and 2 on the Malone Rd, no cycle lanes.
  

• The third option is NCN9, which starts as the second, but joins the NCN at the first opportunity in Stranmillis. In winter that is at the bottom of Ridgeway St, or in summer opposite Queen’s University’s PEC complex. The seasonal variation is due to Botanic Gardens closing at sunset. The evening commute in winter is in the hours of darkness.

I decided on option 3 and recorded the ride on the Strava Android App.

A quick route description. Leaving work, I take the roads, filtering along lines of near stationary traffic in Elmwood Avenue, University Road and Stranmillis Road. There is a short incline at the start of Stranmillis Road, but then it levels off. The junction with Chlorine Gardens has an advanced stop line. Cars often red light jump out of Chlorine Gardens to join the country bound Stranmillis Road. Beware.

Pass the village and then left, downhill towards the river on Ridgeway Street. The pedestrian crossing across Stranmillis Embankment is on the right hand side of the junction. At the change of lights use the pedestrian crossing to join NCN9 on its only traffic and pedestrian free stretch. It is an actual bi-directional bike lane. In Belfast. Pause for a brief moment and savour it. There is nothing like it anywhere else in the city.

The NCN9 between Belfast and Lisburn is liable to flooding in winter, spring, summer and autumn.

I couldn’t tell you what season it was on 30 January, but the river has recently flooded and at the time of writing water was still standing in the section below Governor’s Bridge. At this point the NCN9 loses its cycling exclusivity. From here on expect to share with pedestrians, joggers, horse riders and other wildlife.

I keep to the pavement at Cutter’s Wharf, preferring not to mingle with the inevitable pile up of taxis at the door of this riverside pub, then across the car parks serving pubs and rowing clubs (also used by couples for romantic trysts; look where you are going, not at the romping in the car with the steamed up windows) and finally onto the Lagan Towpath.

The Towpath is an extremely popular leisure route. On a cold, wet evening there are few people and a steady pace can be kept for the next 1.5miles. On Sunday mornings, or when the sun is out, the path soon fills up with walkers so cyclists are reduced to walking pace. It isn’t gritted when it’s frosty, and it is almost entirely unlit.

I am 6ft, and reasonably strong, so if I were to be attacked I’d have a decent chance of getting away or defending myself. I would counsel against women using the path if out on their own at any time, but especially at night. My wife was manhandled by a runner in daylight hours on the way to work some time ago. I confronted the man, a pensioner with a terrible attitude towards cyclists, and nearly chucked him into the river. But that is another story.

The Towpath is supposed to be a shared use space, but one where pedestrians have right of way over cyclists. At the “red” bridge this message is helpfully reinforced by a “cyclist dismount” sign painted on the path. Few cyclists do. Conflict can arise when walkers pause to play Pooh-sticks, and you are pulling a wide trailer, necessitating the pedestrians to tuck in. I only pray my daughter could not hear the muttered swear words. Imagine, stepping aside to let a child pass.

A ride through green spaces never fails to lift my spirits, so I am flabbergasted why some Towpath users are so grumpy and bad-tempered. To the point of scattering tacks and broken glass to inconvenience other cyclists. And remember, using your bell is pointless: the young are listening to their MP3-players, the old are deaf.

We’ve arrived at the Lock Keeper’s Inn, infamous for its connection with the wife of the First Minister. Where cougars roam, I am told.

At the time of writing the direct route to Shaw’s Bridge, by way of Newforge, is closed for bridge repairs. The diversion follows the left bank of the old Lagan Navigation. Access is across the bridge spanning the chamber of the beautifully restored lock. One day, boats will ply these waters again. At present the canal bed is overgrown with willow and the regular haunt of heron, otter and kingfisher.

This section is too narrow, and the righthand side of the path (going upstream) is perilously precipitous. On the left is a beech hedge, separating the path from the playing fields beyond. Proceed carefully.

At Shaw’s Bridge the diverted NCN9 rejoins its original route. Cross the Lagan if you want to go to Drumbeg and beyond to Lisburn. I go on under the old Shaw’s Bridge and follow the footpath. This section is not surfaced and is prone to flooding at any time of year. The section nearest the mouth of the Minnowburn (Carryduff River) is very low-lying and very wet and slippery.

Because of the tight chicane at the Edenderry entrance to the NCN I follow the Edenderry Road from here. There is a steep incline up from the bridge, but it isn’t very long. It is the favourite stretch of my commute. At the “summit” I know that it is only a couple of minutes to my home.

Strava tells me that Option 3 is 5.1 miles and has a total elevation gain of 222ft; average speed of 12.2mph. Travelling time is 25:09. More than half of the route is traffic-free.

The elevation gain is surprising. You’d think the lumpy Malone Road route would easily be the one with most climbing, but no. The short incline to Stranmillis adds a few more feet than the long slog up the Malone Road to the House of Sport. The route is 24.4% longer than option 2. It is also 39.9% slower timewise. Option 1 is in the middle distance-wise, but not much slower than option 2.

In my Twitter argument I said that Sustrans pleading for shared use cycle lanes with pedestrians and shared use bus and bike lanes was selling the commuting cyclist short. I stand by that statement, although it would be better if the NCN9 between the Waterfront in Belfast and the Island Centre in Lisburn were compared to the direct route straight up the Lisburn Road. Anyone up for doing that comparison?

The NCN is not built for the A to B commute; it follows meandering rivers and scenery takes precedence over direct travel. Sustrans should be proud of the NCN, but it is not a National Commuting Network. Not by a long shot.

Too busy, too tired

Dear blog,

I haven’t forgotten about you.

Regards,