Introduce Contra Flow Cycling
Cycling two way on one way streets
A crazy idea or government policy? Cycling by Design, Transport Scotland’s design guide, in Clause 5.1.5, headed Contra-flow Cycle Lanes, states: “The default position should be to permit two-way cycling on one-way streets. Where there are safety concerns, the introduction of a contraflow cycle lane may be required”. So why doesn’t this happen? The photo to the left shows a good, but short, stretch of segregated contraflow cycle infrastructure in Glasgow and we have contraflow cycling in many places, segregated, with just a paint line demarcation or with no demarcation at all, just signage, but it is arbitrary. We need a consistent implementation policy. Streets are being made one-way to facilitate on-street storage of cars, but this has the unfortunate side effects of increasing vehicle speeds and severely damaging the ability to cycle around our neighbourhoods While we need good segregated cycle lanes on our main routes, we need good permeability in our residential areas so that we can get out to the main routes. Contraflow Cycling can contribute to this.