22 little things and 1 big one An overview of the finer points of getting cycle infrastructure right, in a UK context informed by experience in London.

1. 22 little things and 1 big one
Brian Deegan

2. 1.Right left, left right
• When route planning look for dog leg
alignments where cyclists turn right from
minor to major and left from major to minor.
• We ride on the left so this works!

3. 2. Positioning shall be the whole of the
law
1. I am on the route and the route goes that way
2. Hey other people, expect to see cyclists
3. This is the recommended position in the carriageway to take

4. 3. Lanes mean nothing without
parking restrictions

5. 4. At signal junctions, the method of
control is everything
• Highway engineers deal
with space, traffic
engineers deal with time
• Don’t just think about the
space you are getting think
about the time

6. 5. If a scheme has a critical issue then
the score means nothing
0
100
70
40
- Dutch
- Danish
- German
- UK
Cycling infrastructure
performance scale

7. 6. Collision risk is not the same as
feeling safe

8. 7. Start with the nodes and the links
will take care of themselves

9. 8. Parallel crossings have restricted
movements. Toucans don’t.

10. 9.Does the design address the
objectives
• Collision reduction
• Economic regeneration
• Safe routes to school cycling
• Speed reduction
• Air quality
Or is it just a standard approach?

11. 10. Vertical traffic calming is not the
only fruit

12. 11. Cycle tracks are bad
• Protected lanes are good

13. 12. Know the laws of signals
• Thou shalt not have conflicting movements
(unless it’s a right turn then that’s fine)
• Thou shalt not exceed capacity as this is the
definition of gridlock
• Thou shalt minimise the number of stages
• Thou shalt have as short a cycle time as
possible
(

14. 13. Policy should lead to practice
“pedestrians at the top, followed by cyclists then
public transport, with unaccompanied private
car-users last.” - DfT

15. 14.Drainage bites

16. 15. Two way tracks need special care
• At side roads, signal junctions, start and ends
• +ve: maintenance, tidal flow overtaking
• Roads for cycle traffic

17. 16.Risk equals severity times likelihood
• So don’t be compromised by what ifs

18. 17. Stay positive but know the risks
• Innovation and change needs a positive force
behind it

19. 18. Don’t get out of bed unless you
can work out degree of saturation
1. Saturation flow
a) Measure time between 4 and 10 cars passing stop line then divide by 6
=______(seconds)
a) Convert to number of vehicles per hour 3600/time
=_______(vehicles per hour)
2. Capacity
a) (green time for arm measured divided by entire cycle time) times saturation flow
=___(vehicles per hour)
3. Degree of saturation
a) Work out the actual flow for an hour period (15min x 4)
= __214_(vehicles per hour)
a) Divide actual flow by Capacity= Degree of Saturation
= _____

20. 19. 99% of all problems can be solved
with traffic management

21. 20. Sound is the best indicator of a
great urban cycling route

22. How Quiet is your Quietway?
Extract from LCDS – Cycling Level of Service
Basic Good Highest

23. Noise level from recommended riding
range
0
>78DB, 65-78DB,<65DB
Source: Calculation of road traffic noise

24. Sound calculation
•Let’s work out the sound from a flow (q) of 500
vehicles per two way peak hour flow

25. Basic noise
69db

26. Basic noise (18 hour)
Q is approximately 10 times q so Q = 5000 and basic noise across
18hours is 66db

27. Correction for HGV’s
Let’s say percentage of HGV’s
is 5%
So correction is -1.5db
So 64.5db

28. Basic noise (18 hour)
Let’s say gradient = 3%
So correction is +1db
So 65.5db

29. Correction for distance from carriageway
Cyclists are right in the mix so +1db so 66.5db

30. Correction for ground absorbtion
No impact on
cyclists if on
carriageway but
important if they
are running behind
a verge on a busy
road
So 66.5db

31. So low flow, low HGV percentage, shallow
gradient = a quiet route
Therefore Quietness is a good indicator of
pleasant cycling conditions
Basic Good Highest
66.5db good 1point

32. 21. Big things entice, little things
protect

33. Conversion of food
into propulsive force
via the crank shaft
Design
interventions
Heat loss to
muscles and
environment
Bicycle
efficiency,
ability to
maintain
speed
Bicycle speed range 0 – 83mph
Road
surface &
Rolling
resistance
Acceleration
Gradient
Air
resistance
Mass of rider
and bicycle and
effect of gravity
Manufacturer
improvements
Smooth surfacing
eg. SMA
Avoid stop/start
Provide less steep
alternatives
Avoid exposure
Reduce area
22. Design
to reduce
effort

34. 1. Protected junction progress