Southgate Avenue, Crawley

Why we are consulting (project now closed)

We are seeking to improve the existing cycleway footway on Southgate Avenue and would like to hear your views on our proposals. Southgate Avenue in Crawley benefits from an existing cycleway/footway on the eastern side. The facility runs the full length of Southgate Avenue between A23 London Road to the south and Haslett Avenue East to the north.

Pedestrians and cyclists are currently segregated by a painted white line, with a two-way cycle lane on the western (kerbside) part of the facility and a pedestrian footway on the eastern section. At locations where bus shelters are situated the lack of available highway space means the path transitions to a shared use facility with no white line segregation. As such the existing provision is inconsistent.

Both the pedestrian and cycle sections of the existing path are narrow, and the surface is in a poor state of repair. Moreover, the presence of street furniture - such as lighting columns - in the middle of the path causes obstructions. This is a particular problem for cyclists and means they are more likely to enter into the pedestrian part of the track. The presence of pedestrian guard railing also reduces the effective width in a number of places.

Scheme objective

The scheme aims to improve continuity, navigability, and comfort for cyclists. This will be achieved by:

• Converting the existing segregated (by white line) path to a shared path to be compliant with LTN 1/20 national design guidance (see footnote *).
• Repositioning lighting column and other obstacles from the middle of the path
• Creating bus stop by-passes where space allows
• Providing priority for people on bikes across the Southgate Park access road
• Clearing overhanging vegetation
• Replacing the life-expired surface
• Removal of unnecessary pedestrian guard railing (for safety reasons railing will need to be retained in some locations)

Please see the detailed design drawings in the Important Documents section for further information.

Scheme development and prioritisation

To inform the development of the West Sussex Walking and Cycling Stagey 2016-2026, West Sussex County Council asked a range of local stakeholders to suggest new walking and cycling routes, or improvements to existing facilities. The suggestions were then scored and ranked using Sustrans’ RATE tool.

Providing priority at the entrance to Southgate Park and routing people on bikes behind bus shelters was suggested by Crawley Cycle Forum. The suggested route was analysed with Sustrans’ RATE tool and achieved a high score. The scheme was subsequently prioritised for feasibility and preliminary design work as part of the County Council’s 2020/21 Local Transport Improvement Programme (LTIP). The scheme is currently at the detailed design stage with potential construction in 2022/2023.

Alternative Formats:

If you require any of the information for this project in an alternative format, please contact us on 01243 642105 or via email at activetravel@westsussex.gov.uk and we will do our best to assist you. If you are deaf or hard of hearing and have an NGT texting app installed on your computer, laptop or smartphone, you can contact us on 18001 01243 642105.

Accessibility statement:

We are committed to making this website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018. Please view the West Sussex County Council Accessibility Statement for further details, Information about the accessibility of the Your Voice Engagement Hub can be found by clicking on the Accessibility tab at the bottom of the page.

Where it exists, we will provide details of any non-accessible project content which is not full accessible under a heading of Non-accessible content below.

Non-accessible content:

Proposed drawing of Southgate Avenue, Crawley (PDF - The drawing is hoping to improve sections of existing footway and also creating entirely new sections of footway that will allow for more footway/cycleways to be added to the existing network. Crossing points will also be improved at various sections for this scheme. )

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of this website, If you find any problems not listed on this page or you think we are not meeting accessibility requirements, then please contact us on 0330 2222 146 or at haveyoursay@westussex.gov.uk.

* Footnote

What is LTN1/20?

• LTN 1/20 stands for Local Transport Note and provides guidance to all local authorities on delivering high quality, cycle infrastructure.

Table 6.3 in LTN 1/20 national cycling design guidance states that the minimum widths for shared paths carrying up to 300 cycles per hour is 3m. Currently fewer than 300 cycles per day use the path.

Section 6.5.2 of LTN 1/20 states that white line segregation is not well observed, and pedestrians walking on or crossing the cycle side can encounter greater conflict than with unsegregated facilities due to the increased cycling speeds that can result from the designation. Section 6.5.3 goes on to state that “White line segregation is not recommended and the term ‘shared use’ within this document refers only to facilities without any marked separation between pedestrians and cyclists.”

Have your say

Full public consultation is now open for this scheme. We welcome your views via our online questionnaire, which will inform a decision about how this scheme is progressed. The survey is open between Monday 9^th May and Sunday 5^th June.