Prefab Cycle rack ideas

Amongst the pre-fabs, my favourite style is by a US company called DERO although I dont have prices for the UK. This may not be the best type of rack for BCR as is, since each one would individually have to be drilled into the ground. The other prefab is the 'toast-rack' or 'hoop' style. These are less inspired, but might be the preferred choice of an individual hamlet if they dont want to go to the trouble of commissioning a bespoke cycle rack.

"Period" cycle rack design

I'd like to consider how we could use bits of architectural salvage iron to create cycle racks with more imagination than the off-the-shelf stuff. Here's a piece that I think could be incorporated into a terrific cycle rack that would also work as a bollard. They're from Brighton seafront. They're being sold as a lot of 11 for £1150. With some engineering work to transform them into cycle racks, that would work out to a price comparable to the cheapo 3-hoop cycle racks. If other hamlets are interested in exploring a consistent cycle rack design for the street, this might be our answer. Any thoughts?

Oral history of Beechcroft Road?

Having just read Seven roads of Summertown by Perilla Kinchin- in library- about the development of the Lonsdale to Hernes Road estate from 1902 to 2006.
I am sure that Beechcroft has a better story to tell ? from when farmland was sold to the Oxford provident building society in 1895 to 2009/10 a unique traffic calming pilot.


My guess is the following:

1897-1914- rented to trades/lower middle class
1918-1933- move towards landlord selling to tenant/spinsters/widows from the war
1933- 1940- refugees/incomers settled
1945-1975- further conversion to owner occupation from rent
1975 onwards- gentification from academics, medical and professionals to city workers

I am sure they are some lovely memories that we could capture to celebrate when our road " returns" to a safer and friendly outlook?

A good school project for a Beechcroft student?

DIY STREET PROPOSAL MAP draft 8

This is draft 8 of the street proposal map. Click on the map to see a larger size. The map is also available as a downloadable pdf in the "LINKS" section to the right (you might find it easier to view the pdf file). There are notes that accompany this map which you'll find here: http://groups.google.com/group/beechcroft/web/proposal-draft-8

A 15-minute shared space introduction

There are a great many shared space concepts that apply to BCR. The most interesting psychological bit is the first four minutes of part 2.

SHARED SPACE PART 1: This video stutters a bit unless you pause it for a minute or so before attempting to play.




SHARED SPACE PART 2: This video streams better than part 1.

Clogged drains as a traffic-calming device

Ed Pentz posted these photos taken in 2007 when he caught a driver changing their mind after seeing the mother of all puddles.

BCRA Hoping to advise County Council on pavement repairs

BCR is definitely going to have its pavement repairs some time in 2009/10. In addition, Cllr Fooks is busy discussing with the council BCRA's interest in working with the highways engineers to have some say in the way the pavement is remodeled, rather than just having the current undulating profile of the pavement smoothed over and the stone kerbs chucked out. We hope to end up with a level pavement that doesn't tip buggies and wheelchairs over, but still allows cars to access front drives.

BCRA Meetings with County Council

Mark Hull, Ted Dewan and Ed Pentz from BCRA and Alexandra Allen from Sustrans met in September with Cllr Jean Fooks and Cllr Ian Hudspeth (Oxfordshire County Council Cabinet Member for Transport) to talk about our plans for Beech Croft Rd and the DIY Streets project. The next BCRA meeting with the Council is scheduled for 10 November. We need to get the Council to adopt the concept of the DIY Streets Scheme in order to progress.

Kerb treatment idea

I've done a bit of research on the whole dropped-kerb business, and how we might avoid ending up with rampy, undulating pavement. The standard practice is to create at most a 1:12 ramp from kerb to drive. Yet, other officially adopted solutions exist right here in Oxford.

Here's a good one already in place in Headington on St Andrews Street, just north of London Road..

This treatment levels the pavement, retains the stone kerb and the cobbles, offers good drainage, and still allows cars to drive into their off-street parking spaces.

St Andrews Street has a slightly higher street-to-pavement level change than we have on BCR, so the cobble ramp is higher along the wall frontage. Where a car needs access to a drive, the pavement drops ever so slightly, but this dropped kerb is actually approximately as high as our un-dropped kerbs are relative to the street level. Kinda hard to see from the photos, but that's my estimate from being on-site.

I'm currently drawing up a sketch of how I think we could adapt this sort of treatment to BCR. The idea could translate to BCR by using the existing gutter space as a ramp rather than cut it out of the narrow pavement area, and shift the drainage burden to the channel along the join between the cobbles and the street tarmac.

It makes for a slightly bumpier ride up to the front drives, but hardly worth worrying about in my opinion, especially if it makes the pavements suitable for non-motorised use.

There are six drains along BCR, but only two drains along the frontage of houses with drives at numbers 1 and 37. I'm no civil engineer, but I reckon these two drain regions would need to come in for some sort of special attention to the profile of the cobble ramp. The other four drains are adjacent to full-height kerbs where no front-drive access exists so they could be left alone.

What do you think?