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ITEM TIC17 - ANNEX 2

TRANSPORT IMPLEMENTATION COMMITTEE –
4 MARCH 2004

ABINGDON, ST NICOLAS CE PRIMARY SCHOOL BETTER WAYS TO SCHOOL SCHEME

Proposals

Crossing

Situated centrally within the school zone and raised on a cycle friendly type raised crossing, this zebra crossing will facilitate safe crossing of Boxhill Walk for those pedestrians approaching the school from the south. Being raised it will also slow traffic that has entered the school zone further increasing pedestrian safety.

Cycle Routes

To encourage cycling it is necessary to provide safe cycle routes. Existing carriageway widths and parked cars preclude the use of mandatory cycle lanes on the carriageway.

It is therefore felt necessary to provide off-carriageway facilities by way of widening existing footways and under Sections 65 (1) & 66 (4) of the Highways Act 1980, designate the new facilities as being for shared use by pedestrians and cyclists.

A schedule of the lengths proposed for conversion is shown at Annex 3. Objections to these shared or segregated facilities are shown at Annex 4. On-carriageway lane markings have also been included in Boxhill Road to indicate to drivers that cyclists are likely.

Priority Change

Traffic frequently travels past the school entrance, which is where they are likely to encounter the highest density of pedestrian traffic. Parents having dropped their children off, drive on, turn around and leave the area past the school entrance for a second time. The change of priority is aimed to reduce this amount of traffic by encouraging it to divert into Fitzharry’s Road, where the children can be dropped off and walk the short remaining distance to school. The new junction arrangement will also be raised thereby slowing traffic and have a contrasting coloured strip highlighting the outside of the bend. The coloured strip will emphasise changed priorities at the junction and also, when viewed with appropriate upright signs, will serve as a reminder that vehicles are entering the school zone and should drive accordingly.

Traffic Calming

As mentioned above the greatest potential for conflict lies within the area directly surrounding the school. With cars, cycles and pedestrians all competing for space. It is clearly necessary to keep speeds down and reduce vehicular traffic where possible. We aim to achieve this by the introduction of a series of full width 75mm high cycle friendly road humps. The ramp gradient will vary between 1 in 8 max to 1 in 33 min, with the minimum gradients at the outer edges of each running lane, to lessen the severity of the hump for cyclists.

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