Tag Archives: cuttings
Stalbridge Cross should stay where it is, early 1990s?
Proponents of moving the cross pointed out that motorists needed protecting against the cross colliding with their vehicles; town residents countered that it provides useful traffic calming, deflecting traffic around it as it enters the A357 High Street. Stalbridge’s ancient market cross did indeed always stay where it was, gaining some serious wooden bollards in the early-mid 1990s. Don’t think this cutting, which I guess is from the Blackmore Vale Magazine, included a date, but I suppose it was a little before those bollards turned up.
Innovative schemes at Westham Roundabout, 1998
It seems that in 1998, presumably in response to 1996’s National Cycling Strategy, the DfT were trying out “innovative schemes” as they do every decade or so in order to put off doing things that have actually been shown to work. The council volunteered Weymouth’s Westham Roundabout, a busy junction between the Town Centre Relief Road and the main road to Portland, for a cycle lane to be painted around the edge. On the carriageway, of course, not done properly like the Dutch would do. Today the Rodwell Rail Trail ends at this junction, but the opportunity to do something truly great for cycling here was passed up again when the roundabout was converted to a complex high-capacity signal-controlled cross ahead of the 2012 Olympics.
Note the Echo’s particularly absurd transport mode tribalism fail: “positive discrimination”.
Stalbridge High Street parking, 2006
I have no great feelings either way about this one, but it’s nice to know that readers of the Blackmore Vale Magazine managed to come up with hundreds of words of strong opinions.
Pedestrians at bay
Well this one amused me. Council build big new urban road, take no account of pedestrians in designing it. But pedestrians want to continue walking to where they want to go, so do. Arms race of anti-pedestrian defences ensues.
It must be from somewhere around 1988-90ish.