Otley Road - Space Reallocated to Motor Vehicles at Harlow Moor Road Junction

Government Cycle Infrastructure Design guidance says cycle tracks should be created by reallocating space from motor vehicles. The level of service for pedestrians should not be reduced.

At the junction with Harlow Moor Road, Otley Road is being widened for motor vehicles. Pedestrians and cyclists will be squeezed into the remaining space.

In mitigation:

• This is the scheme that was put forward by North Yorkshire and funded by the government in 2017. The current Cycle Infrastructure Design guidance was published later, on 27th July 2020
• Harrogate District Cycle Action was given sight of the Otley Road designs, and made suggestions to try to improve them. However, eliminating road-widening from the scheme was not an option

Still, at the Harlow Moor Road junction we've ended up with a scheme that gives most of the space to motor vehicles, and leaves people on foot or on bikes to fight over the scraps. That is exactly what we're supposed to have stopped doing.

Travelling west, you can understand the reason for a right-turn lane into Harlow Moor Road.

Going east, a left turn lane doesn't even serve a purpose; no one going straight on is delayed by left-turning vehicles.

Otley Road - Failure to Meet Minimum Widths of Cycle & Footpaths

West of the Harlow Moor Road junction available space is reduced by the widening of the road, as can be seen from the photo at the top of the page. The path will be 2m 20cm wide.

As I understand it, in the 2m 20 will be a footway for pedestrians and a two-way cycle track.

The Desirable Minimum width of a two-way cycle track is 3m, and the Absolute Minimum at constraints is 2m. A footway should 2m wide, according to Inclusive Mobility.

Having given most of the space to motor vehicles, there is nowhere near enough left for pedestrians and cyclists.

Otley Road - Complaints Directed at the Wrong Target

There have been a lot of complaints from local residents about the prospect of an Otley Road Cycleway. One of the most common reasons is loss of grass and trees.

In fact, it is widening the road for motor vehicles that has meant the loss of grass and (I believe) twelve trees. Have there been complaints about the road-widening? No, not a peep.

Why have the complaints been directed at the wrong target? There are two possibilities:

• Misinformation - people heard that trees were being cut down for the cycleway, and believed it
• Personal interest - some people may have thought 'I drive, so I'm not going to complain about the road-widening, but I don't cycle'

Otley Road - Risk of the Same Thing Happening Again

Further west towards Beckwithshaw, there is plenty of space for a two-way cycle track, segregated from pedestrians - for now.

There are plans for vast housing estates either side of the Otley Road, though. Developers are putting forward road designs with right-turn lanes. That would once again squeeze the space available to people on foot and and on bikes. That can't be allowed to happen.

Transport links to future housing developments must be properly planned. That means a cycleway segregated from the footway. And it means North Yorkshire County Council must stop reallocating space from active travel to motor vehicles.