Vibrant or dangerous? Colourful roundabout redesign divides village in Berkshire

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Horrendous and dangerous - or fresh and vibrant?

The California Cross junction in Finchampstead, Berkshire, has been described as both.

The product of a broader £5.5m seven-month revamp, the double roundabout and five crossings with distinctive leaf designs has divided opinion amongst locals, with 1,400 signing a petition calling for it to be gone.

Residents have raised concerns about the cost of the work, as well as the safety of a junction that doesn't exactly follow convention.

But how dangerous is it?

The junction consists of two roundabouts, each with three exits. Each exit has a crossing for pedestrians.

But instead of a zebra crossing with black and white stripes, there is a distinctive white leaf design - and instead of a roundabout with a standard central island, there's an array of rainbow leaves painted on the road.

The changes were made as part of a wider project for the area, which also included drainage works.

(article continues)

[AMLAG]

What please is the relevance of this subject with regards to Rail / GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) services/ this rail passengers discussion and rail information site ?

[Chris from Nailsea]

I posted on our well-established board, at https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?board=31.0 , AMLAG, where 2212 posts in
295 topics have previously been posted.

I'm sorry if I seem a little terse.

Chris. 

[grahame]

It *is* posted in the right place - "The West but not the West's trains" ... but .. it came up for me at https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/recent.html as I am testing stuff in the mobile friendly pages, and it flagged up to me that I haven't yet added the board name into that format.  Something added onto my list.

I've already been on that page adding today to add a list of who has liked pages and a like button (grotty format / operation as yet) and more to do on there, but too tired tonight!

[CyclingSid]

It took the council's contractors a long time to do it. It has taken the media quite a long time to cotton on to it. Not sure it helps any road users, more than its previous incarnation.

Probably the only way you would get California cross (roads) and Nine Mile Ride into the national media. Not sure how you could "spruce up" the rest of the area.

[Bob_Blakey]

Statement Of The Bleedin' Obvious alert.

A Google Maps Street View image from May 2023 shows this location as having a perfectly functional mini-roundabout with pedestrian refuges arrangement. So to what extent are the residents of Finchampstead on the hook for whatever this completely unnecessary upgrade cost and which (council?) imbeciles signed this of as being in any way appropriate?

[CyclingSid]

A highway engineers take on it https://bsky.app/profile/rantyhighwayman.bsky.social/post/3lh74oakzkk25

[stuving]

I have not paid a lot of attention to this, though it has appeared on the front page of the local papers often enough (notably last September with the headline "crossroads in national spotlight"). The council have put quite a lot about it on their web site, and not just in response to all this comment. From the start, they seem to have wanted to show they were not just roads managers. (Note this all goes back long before the Lib Dems took over the council in 2022).

The junction was a double mini-roundabout, and they never work very well because drivers have to attend to too many directions at once. With a lot of pedestrians as well, it has been seen as a problem for a long time. But development means more houses, more traffic, and some s106 money to throw at the problem.

The 25 March 2015 planning committee report states:

‘The main constraint along Nine Mile Ride is California Crossroads where currently there are intermittent peak hour delays, and increased delays would be expected. Mitigation alternatives have been examined and a Working Group has been set up with representatives from the local community, and this had its first meeting in late February. At the meeting, options were discussed, and it was agreed that the preferred approach would be a scheme that retained a similar level of highway capacity, and that the priority would be to deliver an environmental improvement in the centre of Finchampstead. An environmental improvement would facilitate the multi-modal use of the junction and improve its operation.  Over the coming months a scheme will evolve based on these principles to be funded by the developers, and it will be subject to wider engagement.’

From then on the language and logic have got more woolly. My objection to it is that for drivers who are not locals and come across it while at least half lost, having to cope with such an unfamiliar style of junction is an extra risk. Successful cooperation between drivers an pedestrians requires them to all know what's going on, and who is going to go where. I'm not convinced by the more recent idea that forcing drivers to work things out with no guidelines is safer in a case like this

[paul7575]

I think they should have used normal zebra crossing markings at all 5 positions, with the necessary approach signage. There seems no reason for drivers to give priority to pedestrians, so their safety has been seriously reduced.

[PrestburyRoad]

I think they should have used normal zebra crossing markings at all 5 positions, with the necessary approach signage. There seems no reason for drivers to give priority to pedestrians, so their safety has been seriously reduced.

This was exactly the problem that occurred on the internal roads on the site at which I worked.  The architect had the idea that it would look more elegant to denote the pedestrian crossings by a shallow beige raised area across the road, rather than the usual black and white stripes.  The staff expected that only black and white stripes would mean a pedestrian crossing, because that was the marking they saw everywhere else.  Nobody died but there were many near misses.  Eventually management overruled the architect's idea and painted the stripes, and all was well - everybody then knew exactly what was meant and who had priority.

[grahame]

There are (or have been)  a number of other none-standard Zebra crossings around

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-47402269

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-57630842

and I recall a curved zebra crossing on a corner - I think in Funchal - sure I took a picture but can't find it.

[Red Squirrel]

To be fair, the crossing by Castle Park in Bristol is signal-controlled - the area that’s been painted would normally just be plain highway - so it’s not particularly confusing.

[Marlburian]

Something similar at Chichester.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Perhaps the Department for Transport should now update their guidance on roundabouts in the Highway Code.

Their current illustrations bear no resemblance to these increasingly artistic variations which are now springing up. 

[eightonedee]

Perhaps the Department for Transport should now update their guidance on roundabouts in the Highway Code.

Their current illustrations bear no resemblance to these increasingly artistic variations which are now springing up.  Roll Eyes

Better still - update their guidance to prohibit non-standard road markings. Surely the whole idea of standard road markings is for safety, so that all road users know what the rules are, they can be taught as part of teaching children pedestrian road safety and safe cycling and learner drivers to drive.

I do not have a problem in principle with Dutch-style "home zones" where motorised traffic has to cede priority to others in the right places, but there needs to be clear and universal road signage and marking.