Spring Campaign – Pedestrian Crossing Hall of Shame

As we’ve noted previously, the quality of pedestrian crossings is desperately in need of improvement.

Here are some examples, just to highlight some of the problems.

Short Street

Our first example is the crossing of Short Street from Willow Walk.

 

With luck, you’ll be able to see the crossing. That’s the first problem, lack of maintenance causes the crossing to fade into near invisibility. A closer look reveals other problems here:

• Poor condition of the tactile paving, including an intrusive manhole cover
• A poor transition from the pavement to the road surface

Things don’t get much better as you walk towards Fitzroy Street, where you have to cross New Square:

Trumpington Junction

In Trumpington there’s a busy junction where the High Street, Shelford Rd, and Hauxton Rd meet. There’s another crossing a little further along the High Street.

 

Where shall we start?

• Evidence from the rather bent fence indicates that vehicles don’t always stay on the carriageway
• The island turns one crossing into 2 separate ones, with double the wait
• The central island can get very crowded
• On the central island, people are waiting with traffic flowing on both sides
• Priority is given to cars, so the time waiting to cross is measured in minutes, while the time allowed to cross is only seconds
• Vehicles can stop on the crossing, making pedestrians and cyclists weave around
• Lack of a cycle lane forces cyclists onto a narrow footway, which also has pavement clutter and vehicle parking

More faded crossings

Just to reinforce the point, here are a few more examples of faded crossings.

Clockwise from top left, Cambridge Road in Milton, Wulfstan Way, outside the Round Church, Tenison Road, our friend Short Street, and Drummer Street at the entrance to the Bus Station.

Helping Out

The above only scratches the surface of problem crossings. You can help us by sending us a photo of a crossing that doesn’t work for you.

Email your photo to cambridgegroup@livingstreets.org.uk or to our Facebook page (Cambridge Living Streets) adding time, date, location and problem type, plus the improvements you’d like to see.