A Campaigning tour of south Dagenham

I spent a few hours on 8 July out with the council's cycling officer looking at recent and on going works mainly in the A13/A1306 area to the south of the borough. Thanks to him for finding the time in his busy schedule. There are photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/cardinal1962/CycleFacilityTour8July09. Apologies for those that are out of focus.

The emphasis in the borough does seem to be on off-road facilities at the moment, with Council initiatives, TfL initiatives (being delivered by Sustrans) and Sustrans' own initiatives all having this focus. What we saw, therefore, was either paths in parks and green spaces or tracks alongside roads that lead between parks and green spaces. It must be said that riding in green spaces - and in particular the Beam Valley path - brings pleasant respite in an area like south Dagenham that is dominated by the A13/A1306 and industry / industrial sites, and the new pathway parallel to Goresbrook Road at Castle Green does provide a pleasant alternative to part of Goresbrook Road, which is narrow and dominated by parked cars, but greenways should be an aid to and not substitute for permeabilty - easy access for cycling down roads and paths everywhere.

Though I understand the attraction of off road facilities for less confident cyclists and children, cycling must not be sidelined into being purely a leisure activity - it is a form of transport too. Neither must off road cycle facilities be used as a tool to keep carriageways freer for motor vehicles. Motorists cannot expect full segregation and should not be led to believe that the roads are their exclusive domain or right. That said, as you know, cycle lanes and tracks are often abused by motorists parking their vehicles in/on them, but it was particularly galling to see a council vehicle parked on the pavement blocking a council provided cycle track. Seeing cycling as mainly a leisure activity can lead to decreased permeability in town centres, with the current fashion apparently seeing them as the domain of pedestrians, public transport and car parks, with cycling not being properly accounted for, even if cycle storage is now more commonly provided in homes.

We discussed the problems of cycle signing. It should be integrated with other signing where possible (not assuming cycling doesn't exist or that it must have dedicated signs) and there should not be too much emphasis on route networks. people will not want to cycle out of their way to use a route network if a more direct route exists. Signs should not direct them to do this by always pointing down network routes.

We spent some time at The Chequers junction a 6 way junction formed by Chequers Lane, Goresbrook Road, Heathway, Marsh Green Road, New Road, Ripple Road. Despite being "detrunked" this is still a busy junction, especially when the A13 is busy and drivers seek an alternative route. Progress on the junction is hard to see as much work is subsurface - 17 ducts cross under it, but eventually sustainable modes will be able to cross carriageways using Toucan crossings if they wish to avoid the carriageway.