Our response to Moor Street Gateway proposals

Filed under: Consultation

This is our response to the Moor Street Gateway consultation. If you agree with our response, you can reply to say you agree with Better Streets for Birmingham’s response.

The Moor Street Gateway proposals are the first step to creating a connected through-route between the A38 and A34 cycleways. In future, this will also connect with the A45 cycleway.

The proposals also reallocate significant amounts of historical road space to walking, wheeling and cycling, while being a major bus interchange with three of our four major rail stations. The widening of footways, particularly around bus stop MS18 is extremely welcome.

We fully support the principle of the proposals and welcome how they plug into a developing cycling network in Southside, Eastside and the Knowledge Quarter. We look forward to the upcoming transformation of this important public space.

Considerations

Following engagement with the project team, we offer the following considerations:

On-road running through St Martins Queensway tunnel

The project has balanced the needs of a high footfall area, cyclists and a high number of bus movements and stops.

We are disappointed by other stakeholders dismissing a two-way cycle lane with light-controlled tidal traffic flow due to bus journey time concerns. It should be noted that there is currently already a wait to enter the tunnel from Moor Street Queensway. This opposition has led to a design where less confident cyclists could be put off from the on-road section through the tunnel on St Martin’s Queensway.

We should be designing infrastructure that anyone, including families with young children, would be happy to use – in our view the current design falls short and would not achieve the key aim of joining the A38 and A34 cycle lanes.

Integration with the retail core

By placing the main cycle track in the central reservation, access to the city centre retail core is restricted. It is designed very much as a through-route with access to Curzon Street Station. There needs to be a clear access route to the retail core through both Carrs Lane and Martineau Galleries.

There is also no way to access the cycle route without dismounting when trying to leave the retail core.

Integration with Curzon Promenade

HS2 plans contain Curzon Promenade which “will be used by pedestrians and cyclists who are heading towards the bus and Sprint stops north of the station, the Knowledge Quarter and future canalside developments”.

The Moor Street Gateway proposals do not appear to link into this properly, instead cyclists are told to dismount when leaving the cycle track into the Curzon Street area. There should be an obvious link through Curzon Promenade.

Switching sides of the street

Outside the Clayton Hotel, the lane moves between the central reservation and the eastern side of the road, in order to facilitate turning lanes into Martineau Galleries and two lanes northbound.

We want to see this changed so that the lane transitions to the western side of the street instead and follows this side of the street until the start of the A34 cycleway on James Watt Queensway. Design features to support this change could include a cycle priority crossing for the Martineau Galleries access road with delivery restrictions.

Number of potential stops due to junctions

Due to the nature of the cycle route going through several junctions, this could make using the infrastructure unappealing if the flow of cycles has to stop every few metres. Phasing and wait times will be critical to the success of this cycling infrastructure and sensors should be used to detect cyclists in advance to enable the free flow of cyclists where possible, particularly at the summit of the slope alongside Selfridges.

Future-proofing junctions

When the A47 pop-up cycle track was removed, the Council and Transport for West Midlands promised that it would be picked up again as part of future bus corridor measures. We would recommend that this scheme is designed with a connection to Jennens Road.

The consequences of not doing this now would be similar to what happened with the A38 and Priory Road, where there was not enough money to upgrade the connecting crossing. It also avoids needing to dig up the road again in future.

SUDS along the central reservation borders

The borders of the central reservation cycle track are hard landscaped. Could this be changed to SUDS low-level planting instead of the tarmac, to improve drainage?

Clear signage

There needs to be clear cycle signage along this route to be able to make well-informed movements at junctions.

The proposed pedestrian wayfinding signage to direct people through St Martin’s Queensway tunnel is inadequate and needs to be obvious to people when they are trying to navigate the proposed layout.

Final connection via Smithfield

The City Centre Movement and Access Strategy Phase One plans for Pershore Street will discourage cyclists from continuing through Hippodrome Square, instead providing a continuous route through Bromsgrove Street and Pershore Street.

Therefore, the natural connection between Moor Street Queensway and Hurst Street is likely to be via this route. A connection should be built between Hurst Street and Smithfield. If Smithfield’s cycle routes are further in the future than the building of the Moor Street scheme, a temporary connection should be signed via Edgbaston Street and Pershore Street.

Separately, we would restate our feedback to the City Centre Movement and Access Strategy that there is an opportunity to connect to the A38 by continuing along Smallbrook Queensway and down Horsefair and Bristol Street to the corner with Wrentham Street.

Final remarks

Overall, we welcome proposals intended to make car-free travel around our city centre a more realistic prospect. The considerations outlined are intended to make the most sustainable forms of travel such as walking and cycling widely accessible, not just to make journeys safer for people who already use them but also to broaden their appeal so that more people can move away from car dependency.

These proposals will help to achieve the objectives set out in the council’s upcoming Road Harm Reduction Strategy, as well as making Birmingham a far more pleasant place for everyone who lives, works and travels here.

We look forward to clear and regular updates about the scheme’s progress and delivery.