WARRINGTON CYCLE NETWORK PLAN
WINWICK ROAD CYCLE ROUTE
August 2003

Contents

• Introduction
• Context
• Policy
• Traffic Reduction
• Speed Limits & Enforcement
• Junction Treatment
• Lane Width
• Bus Lanes
• Cycle Tracks
• Cycle Parking
• References

Introduction

Winwick Road (A49) forms one of twelve cycle route network corridors included in the Warrington Local Transport Plan programme for 2001-2006^[1]. This report describes a series of measures along the route to improve conditions for cyclists.

The route starts in Warrington town centre at the junction of Scotland Road and Winwick Street. From here it follows the former route of the A49 north along Winwick Street. It then joins the A49 at Lythgoes Lane and follows Winwick Road and Newton Road past Winwick to the borough boundary.

This is the main approach to Warrington town centre from the north. It is an important route for cyclists heading for a number of destinations including Warrington Central Station, the bus station, new rugby stadium, Warrington Collegiate Institute, Fordton Leisure Centre and LA Bowl.

Figure 1. Schematic of the Winwick Road Cycle Route

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Context

There are number of recent and proposed developments that will have an impact on the route over a short period of time. This is a good time to consider cycle improvements on the route as a whole.

M62 Junction 8

The recently opened motorway junction includes a direct link to the Gemini retail park. This should divert traffic from the route, particularly between Cromwell Avenue and the motorway. This provides a good opportunity to reallocate space on the carriageway to sustainable transport modes and also redesign the junctions to a more cycle-friendly design.

New Bus Station

The council has recently secured funding to construct a new bus station. This will involve the closure of Golborne Street, which forms part of the town centre cycle ring road^[2]. An alternative cycle route is to be created between the new bus station and Midland Way and a junction will be needed where this meets Winwick Street.

New Rugby Stadium

Work has started on the construction of a rugby stadium and superstore on the site of the former Tetley Brewery. This will involve the construction of a new junction on Winwick Road and it is important that this is designed using cycle-friendly principles.

Orford Park Greenway

As part of the Orford Project a greenway has been proposed, running west from Orford Park to meet Winwick Road south of the Collegiate Institute. A toucan crossing will be needed so that cyclists can access the greenway from the northbound carriageway.

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Policy

Proposals have been chosen in line with the hierarchy of action to improve conditions for cyclists from the Warrington Cycle Strategy policy CP3^[1]. These approaches in descending order of preference are:

1. Traffic reduction
2. Traffic calming
3. Junction treatment and traffic management
4. Redistribution of the carriageway
5. Cycle lanes and cycle tracks

Cycle Audit and Review

As part of the key utility cycle network for Warrington, Winwick Road should be considered a "cycle pro-active route". All proposals for the route, whether or not specifically aimed at cyclists, should be subject to full cycle audit and review procedures^[3].

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Traffic Reduction

Junction 8 of the M62 has recently reduced the volume of traffic using the section of road between Cromwell Avenue and the motorway. There is further potential to encourage traffic heading north on the M6 to use the M62 rather than the Winwick link road. Although this is a slightly longer route it can be faster due to the absence of traffic lights.

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Speed Limits & Enforcement

Slower traffic speeds provide a safer and more attractive environment for cyclists. For this reason traffic calming is high on the hierarchy of measures to improve conditions for cyclists. Physical traffic calming measures would be inappropriate for a main road so the emphasis is on enforcement of speed limits.

Winwick Street - 20 mph

To make the environment of Warrington Town Centre a more pleasant place - inviting both to cyclists and pedestrians, a 20 mph speed limit should be enforced on all the streets in the town centre within the inner circulatory ring road. This would follow the example recently set by Wolverhampton.

The 20mph limit would apply to Winwick Street from Scotland Road to the junction with Lythgoes Lane. The following facts, quoted from the Department of Transport's research^[4] make a convincing argument for this proposal: "... Research shows that when pedestrians are struck by a moving car:

• At 20 mph only 5% are killed;
• At 30 mph 45% are killed and many are seriously injured;
• At 40 mph 85% are killed."

Beyond Lythgoes lane the route joins the main A49 road, which is wide enough to enable safe overtaking, so the current 30 mph limit is appropriate.

Dual Carriageway - 40 mph

The dual carriageway has a 40mph limit as far as the Motorway. This is well respected, at least at the southern end, due to camera enforcement. The section to the north of Cromwell Avenue could benefit from a speed camera. The 40mph limit should be extended beyond the M62 to the junction with Hollins Lane in Winwick. Recent developments have added junctions to this stretch of road making it more urban in character.

Beyond Winwick - 50 mph

Newton Road runs through open country from Hollins Lane to the borough boundary and is currently subject to the national speed limit. However, the road is not suitable for high-speed traffic. It is not built to modern highway standards and is too narrow for vehicles to overtake cyclists safely within the lane. A 50mph limit would be more appropriate for this section of the route.

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Junction Treatment

Tanners Lane/Haydock St

Tanners lane used to take a reasonable volume of traffic travelling east to west, north of the town centre. The construction of Midland Way has effectively made this route redundant so now the junction is not particularly busy.
It is proposed that:

• The B5210 should be re-routed and traffic travelling east from Froghall Lane or Crossfield Street should be signposted to follow Midland Way to Battersby Lane. This should reduce traffic volumes at this junction, improving cycle safety.
• Since the traffic flow on Winwick Street has been reduced, the left hand filter lane on the Winwick St as it approaches from the south is redundant. It should be removed (see Figure 2) as its presence forces cyclists heading straight on to filter across traffic to the right, a difficult manoeuvre.
• This single northbound lane should continue beyond the junction towards the Lord Rodney roundabout (Figure 2).

Lord Rodney Roundabout

The Lord Rodney roundabout still reflects the role of Winwick St as the main route north from the town centre. There are minimal deflections, which means it is possible for traffic to negotiate the junction at speed. High traffic speeds are dangerous and off-putting for cyclists. This is particularly problematical for cyclists heading north-east from Winwick Street to Pinners Brow, since they come into conflict with vehicles heading North to the (currently) blocked up section of Winwick Street.
Figure 2 shows the following proposals:

• The roundabout should be replaced by a reduced diameter roundabout centred on the line of Pinners Brow. Winwick St should be 'bent in' from the north and south so that four 'arms' are at right angles (NE, NW, SW, SE).
• The geometry of the roundabout should be based on the 'continental' design described in Traffic Advisory Leaflet 09/97^[5]. The entry and exit arms should be a single lane perpendicular to the roundabout rather than meeting it at a tangent. The circulatory carriageway should be just wide enough to vehicles to perform a right hand turn.
• A runoff area in the centre of the roundabout would assist bus passage

Figure 2 - Junction Treatments at Winwick St/Tanners Lane/Haydock St and the Lord Rodney Roundabout

This section of the route is covered in greater detail in a separate report^[6]. Proposals are included there for improving the junctions with Tanners Lane.

Lythgoes Lane

A junction will need to be created to reopen the currently blocked section of Winwick Street to buses and cyclists. This should be straight forward for northbound cyclists who will simply need to merge with the main traffic flow from Lythgoes Lane. Southbound cyclists on Winwick Road will need to turn right from a busy road. The junction should be designed in such a way that cyclists do not have to filter across lanes of fast-moving traffic. This can be achieved by introducing a signalised junction with a filter lane for buses and cyclists on the left (similar to the current arrangement for busses turning from Winwick Street into Goldborne Street).

Kerfoot Street / Longford Street

The junction with the A574 Longford Street is a straightforward signal controlled cross roads. The only serious problem at this junction is that cyclists turning right from the main road have to filter across two lanes of traffic. One possibility would be to create a 'jug handle' arrangement whereby right-turning cyclists would filter to the left and wait in front of the queue of crossing traffic for the lights to change.

Hawleys Lane / Long Lane

This roundabout should be replaced by a signal controlled cross roads.

Cromwell Avenue

This roundabout is particularly hostile for cyclists due to the presence of left hand filter lanes both on Winwick Road and Cromwell Avenue. These were installed to accommodate the large volume of turning traffic. The recent completion of junction 8 of the M62 will significantly reduce the amount of traffic using Cromwell Avenue, so there is scope to redesign the junction to a much more cycle friendly junction.

This junction should also be converted to a signal controlled crossroads, and the left hand filters should be removed.

M62 Junction 9

The westbound exit slip road has two lanes, which encourages vehicle to overtake while they are exiting from the roundabout. This should be reduced to a single lane similar to the more heavily used eastbound exit.

Cyclists are currently encouraged to ride on the pavement through this junction, but no facilities are provided to enable this to be done safely. There are no signals on the exit slip roads and vehicles tend to exit at speed without signalling. Cyclists approaching the crossing are hidden from drivers by fences. Although there are signals on the entrance slip roads there are no signal heads for cyclists or pedestrians so it is difficult to know when it is safe to cross. The arrangements for cyclists leaving and joining the carriageway are unsafe, with cyclists having to cross dropped kerbs at an acute angle and re-merge very abruptly with traffic. The signs directing cyclists to ride on the pavement should be removed.

Winwick Link Road

The Winwick Link Road junction is a very large signal controlled roundabout. This is not a problem for northbound cyclists as there are no significant conflicting traffic movements. However, southbound cyclists can be intimidated by vehicles turning left onto the Winwick Link Road. This junction should be replaced by a signal controlled crossroads.

Hollins Lane

Church Walk is used as an informal cycle route by cyclists heading east-west through Winwick. This could be improved by upgrading the pedestrian crossing to a toucan and removing the narrow gate at the Newton Road end.

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Lane Width

Wide nearside lanes are beneficial in terms of cyclists comfort and safety, particularly on roads such as Winwick Road with significant numbers of HGVs and buses. A lane width of 4.25 m gives sufficient room for a bus to overtake a cyclist without passing too close. Wide nearside lanes are recommended on all major traffic routes^[7,8].

Winwick Street

Winwick Street used to be the main road (A49) from Warrington to the north but now only takes local traffic. The road is wide, but still laid out to accommodate a large volume of traffic so there is the potential to create a more cycle friendly environment. The road should be reduced to a single 4.25m-wide lane in each direction, with spare road space reallocated to wider pavements. This section of the route is covered in greater detail in a separate report^[6].

Dual Carriageway

On the dual carriageway section a wider nearside lane can be obtained by painting the lane marking further to the right. Wide vehicles overwhelmingly tend to use the nearside lane and the narrower outside lane may have some traffic calming effect.

Beyond Winwick

Newton Road, to the north of Hollins Lane, is fast but narrow. This is a dangerous combination for cyclists. There is no space on the road to create wide lanes, but overtaking room can be created by painting a wide hatched centre line. Although this would make the lanes themselves narrower, vehicles can use the hatched area to overtake.

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Bus Lanes

Bus lanes offer considerable benefits to cyclists, both in terms of safety and convenience. Even where a bus lane operates only during peak hours, for example on Wilderspool Causeway, traffic tends to remain outside the lane. Bus priority measures are proposed in both directions on the dual carriageway section of Winwick Road in the Warrington Local Transport Plan^[1].

It is important that any bus gate arrangements accommodate the needs of cyclists and that lights can be triggered by the passage of a bicycle. It is possible to set loop detectors to only trigger for light vehicles so that the arrangement would not be abused by car drivers.

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Cycle Tracks

Cycle tracks are at the bottom the hierarchy of action and should be considered as a measure of last resort. Maintaining continuity is critical and cycle paths have a very poor safety record at junctions^[9] so they are not suited to urban roads. Cycle paths are most useful on high-speed rural routes without junctions.

Cycle tracks should be considered for both sides of Newton Road, from Hollins Lane to the borough boundary. This is a fast rural road with limited space to overtake cyclists. It is important that these be built to high standards, with machine laid tarmac at least 2m wide for one-way use in addition to space for pedestrians. All surface transitions should be perfectly flush and perpendicular to the direction of travel. Where a path ends the arrangements for re-merging with the carriageway are critical for safety. Cyclists should be able to continue straight ahead with motor vehicles merging from the side over a distance of 30m.

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Cycle Parking

Winwick road serves a number of destinations for which cycle parking is needed. These include.

• Town Centre
• New Bus Station
• Warrington Central Station
• New rugby stadium & Tesco Store
• Matalan
• Warrington Collegiate Institute
• Alban Retail Park
• Fordton Leisure Centre
• LA Bowl
• B&Q

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References

1. Warrington Local Transport Plan 2001-2006, Warrington Borough Council, 2000.
2. A Practical Vision for Cycling in Warrington Town Centre, Warrington Cycle Campaign, 1999.
3. Guidelines for Cycle Audit and Cycle Review, Department of the Environment Transport and the Regions, 1998.
4. Killing Speed Saving Lives, Department of Transport, 1992.
5. Cyclists at Roundabouts, Continental Design Geometry, Traffic Advisory Leaflet 09/97, Department for Transport.
6. Warrington Cycle Network Plan - The Core Kilometre, Warrington Cycle Campaign, 2001.
7. Cyclists and Major Roads, Allott & Lomax, 1992.
8. Cycle-Friendly Infrastructure, Department of Transport / Bicycle Association / Cycling Tourist Club / Institution of Highways and Transportation, 1995, reprinted 1997
9. Safety of Vulnerable Road Users, OECD, 1998.