Government publishes guide to building bike facilities

A new guide to building cycle facilities has been published by the government. Cycle Infrastructure Design attempts to bring together example of best practice and advice on the subject from the Department for Transport and the Scottish and Welsh Assemblies.

According to the blurb: “This design guide brings together and updates guidance previously available in a number of draft Local Transport Notes and other documents. Although its focus is the design of cycle infrastructure, parts of its advice are equally appropriate to improving conditions for pedestrians. By bringing together relevant advice in a single document, this guide will make it easier for local authorities to decide what special provision, if any, is required to encourage more people to cycle.”

Contents of the guide include:

• General design parameters - including overtaking by motor vehicles and dimensions of cycles;
• Signing issues - including the 'give way' sign and the cycle symbol;
• Network management - including road closures and parking control;
• Reducing vehicles speeds on cycle routes - including cycle bypasses and road humps;
• Bus and tram routes - including tram stops and bus gates;
• Cycle lanes - including mandatory cycle lanes and cycle lane widths (the guide sets a minimum width of 2m);
• Off road cycle routes - including design speeds and surfaces;
• Junctions - including visibility criteria at junctions and advanced stop lines;
• Cycle track crossings - including signal controlled crossings and parallel crossings;
• Cycle parking - including locations for cycle parking and cycle parking equipment; and,
• Public transport integration - including cycle carriage on trains and routes to stations

The guide is primarily aimed at local authorities and sounds like just the sort of thing every highways department should have. The hard back copy costs £29 and is available from the TSO or Amazon (but you'd better hurry the latter only has one copy), or you can download it as a pdf from the Department for Transport website.