Forum Topic

C49

Hello,Just wondering if anyone could tell me how one is supposed to join/leave CHR from C49? I saw them add the road markings the other day on Windmill Road, so I’d thought I’d do that instead of what I usually do of joining the bike lane from beside Gail’s and leaving it by the side of Starbucks. Can’t figure out how you’re supposed to use the Windmill Lane route. If you’re in the bike lane travelling west, you can’t exactly turn right across the eastbound bike lane, slip between the sticks, 90 degrees it across both traffic lanes, so what you have to get off and push across the crossing?

Cormac Auty ● 62d39 Comments

This is exactly the point. A designation as a cycle route allows change to happen and while it might not be the great leap forward that some would like to see cumulatively this small tweaks make a significant difference. Next up for C49 should be safe crossing of Southfield Road and longer after dark opening of the section through Acton Park.

Mark Evans ● 55d

As if by magic, C49 on Windmill Road has been resurfaced! Where that's conspiracy theorist Maggie Dodge when you need her?

John Hall ● 56d

Oh Richard,  sad but not surprised to watch your debating skills once again collapse and sink to the depths with another retreat to your crass creation humpty.By default and definition, you put yourself hand in hand with this forum's demented poison-spreader, Steve.Happy about that?

Bill Danton ● 57d

Steve Taylor believes you Richard. You probably think that proves you're not a liar.

Paul Campbell ● 57d

"..synonmyous.."Once again, Humpty, you prove my point. Put your helmet on and go for a nice long bike ride.

Richard Greenhough ● 57d

😂😂😂. I know, Markie,  it’s hilarious that Skidmark is slaughtered every time by every respondent.  Even more hilarious that the old fool keeps going back for more slaughtering. Hilarious. If you’re going to feed the Troll make it funnier by watching it dribble.

Steve Taylor ● 57d

Has the analogy been too difficult for you to follow?

Paul Campbell ● 57d

Meanwhile, there’s was once a so-called cycle route..

Peter Evans ● 57d

I understand that in the world of reactionary conservatists "lying" is considered to be synonmyous with "proving". That's why, as I've said before, you are unqualified for the most remedial level of English language course.If you ever have a scintilla of self-doubt that you are deluding yourself that you are right about anything then an endorsement from Steve Taylor should be all that even the most irrational and stubborn fool would require.

Paul Campbell ● 57d

😂😂🤣

Mark Frost ● 57d

I don’t read Skidmark Cambell’s posts because history has shown that he usually only spews vitriol and unadulterated rubbish but, looking at responses to his nonsense, it seems that it’s yet again Game Set and Match to Mr Greenhough who has effectively slaughtered Skidmark Cambell with every set.

Steve Taylor ● 57d

Yet another word that you choose to mean something different from the dictionary definition.

Richard Greenhough ● 57d

"Proved". I see you've come for my remedial English language classes again.

Paul Campbell ● 57d

You just can't stand to be proved wrong, can you ?What a sad case you are.

Richard Greenhough ● 57d

Sure. So you drove to the Avonmouth Docks to the start of the A4 and then all the way into Holborn. Regardless of whether you are a stubborn old liar or the kind of sad case who would actually do that you are doing an excellent job of illustrating the point that by Mark's standards the A4 is a Potemkin road.

Paul Campbell ● 57d

"It's a well-trodden route for bullshitters."Use it a lot, do you ? I was working near Avonmouth and decided to come back to Central London the scenic way.

Richard Greenhough ● 57d

Course you did. It's a well-trodden route for bullshitters.

Paul Campbell ● 57d

Actually, no. I drove from Avonmouth to Holborn. Keep your vibrator to yourself.

Richard Greenhough ● 57d

You drove from New Fetter Lane in Holborn to St Andrew’s Roundabout at Avonmouth docks? Bullshit detector is vibrating. Potemkin road only used in parts with people taking detours to go to other places that it doesn’t go to. Like Birmingham for example.

Paul Campbell ● 57d

I once drove the full length of the A4 - it goes through some beautiful scenery but rather peters out at its western end.

Richard Greenhough ● 58d

I can assure you that the number of people who drive the full length of the A4 is precisely zero.

Paul Campbell ● 58d

I can assure you that the exact number of cyclists who use the designated C49 route is precisely zero. Nobody takes the detour up Carlton Road and hardly anybody goes the long way around Southfield Park. I did once see a man try to take two small children on bikes from the end of Rusthall Avenue onto the parallel crossing as is indicated by the road signage but they ran straight into a group of pedestrians.This is not however the point. Lots of people do cycle on parts of C49 to travel between Chiswick and Acton and this number has increased as it would be the route for many to get to the Elizabeth line. The designated route may be disregarded but C49 is still useful because it provides access to funding that might otherwise not have been available. Windmill Road probably wouldn't have been resurfaced if it wasn't on the route and the alleyway at the top of Southfield Park might not have been widened. I'm very much in favour of change and the existence of C49 enables this and will continue to do so,but not in the simplistic way you imagine.

Mark Evans ● 58d

Acucurate in your mind. Like most things you write about cycling. Not accurate in reality as observable by the testimony of the people who use C49 including, amusingly, yourself. Some people can't stand change, some get used to it, some see its benefits eventually but are too stubborn to ever admit they were wrong.

Paul Campbell ● 58d

The description of C49 as a Potemkin cycleway was an accurate one when it was first set up. It was literally just a series of new signs and paint on the road. I cycled its length both ways when it was first announced and it was clear that it wasn't designed by cyclists but arbitrarily drawn on a map.It contained a significant number of flaws including the unnecessary diversion along a potholed Carlton Road, the wide arc around the western end of Southfield Park and the risky emergence into the Fishers Lane tunnel on a blind corner out of Acton Green Common.That cyclists universally ignore the official route isn't really relevant. What the designation appears to have done is open the door to funding pots which might otherwise have not been available. This has resulted in a series of measures which have improved conditions for cyclists including the widening of access at the top of Southfield Park as well as accelerated road resurfacing. Hopefully this will be the gift that keeps on giving and next on the list should be safer crossing on Southfield Road. The major flaw currently in C49 is the nighttime closure of Acton Park although it is perhaps too much to hope that this can be changed.

Mark Evans ● 58d

Yes the “Potemkin cycle way” that people are coming onto this forum to describe using in various ways for their local bike journeys.

Paul Campbell ● 60d

Closing the railway bridge to motor traffic could well be a useful step in itself, without inventing a meaningless cycle route to go though it that elsewhere tacks and weaves its way along back streets, over pavements and through parks.

Peter Evans ● 60d

Glad you’ve already forgotten the closure of Fishers Lane to cars Peter

Paul Campbell ● 60d

C49 seems to be a cheap throwback to the cycle facilities of old, when a few painted lines and pictures of bicycles were thought to be good enough. With C49 we also have a few signposts pointing across some parks, all so the local authority can pretend they’re providing something useful. What a con!

Peter Evans ● 60d

When do cyclists ever wait for lights to change?

Steve Taylor ● 60d

To go East to C9 going Flanders Road/Welstead Car Park/Prebend Gardens is a good traffic-light option.

John Hall ● 61d

I rode on it last night and it is a joy. Even if you think C49 is a bit of a Potemkin cycleway, the designation does mean that the route is more likely to be resurfaced so hopefully Carlton Road will benefit similarly. If you are using it to access C9 to go east I would tend to not cross over until after the Chiswick Lane or even the Goldhawk Road junction as you will find you proceed much more quickly. To go west I would not go that way but would head down Belmont Road and then rejoin C9 via Town Hall Avenue. These routes help you avoid the long phase waits at lights in the centre of Chiswick.

Mark Evans ● 61d

Yes long overdue resurfacing. I wonder what the closure of fishers Lane to all but buses and cycles has done for the traffic on Windmill road. I can’t be the only one who now uses it to access the car parks by Chiswick back common and even, if CHR is busy, to get to/from Sainsburys.

David Turner ● 62d

“ so what you have to get off and push across the crossing?”Oh diddums!  First world problems rule supreme.

Steve Taylor ● 62d

Not even going to entertain you.

Julian Pavey ● 62d

Yeah you’re good at facts without knowing

Paul Campbell ● 62d

Blooming eck Well done hounslow council. You could never have a bycycle lane down that road,it was dangerous on 2 wheels at various times over the years. And for PC,no it was not a moan,it was a fact without knowing.

Julian Pavey ● 62d

Ah cool, thanks for reply. I’ll stick to using other roads for now then!

Cormac Auty ● 62d

Oh! Sorry to take away another reason for a moan. 
In response to the OP there are plans to upgrade Cycleway9 which include creating a user-friendly route between C49 and the main cycle lane. But no news yet on when that will happen. 

Paul Campbell ● 62d

"I saw them add the road markings the other day on Windmill Road" What,20 + years on and they cant even resurface the road first. Its like a patchwork of repairs and holes since the end of WW2.

Julian Pavey ● 62d