Waiting to Happen
Waiting to Happen is co-signed and supported by:
Architects Climate Action Network Scotland
Cycle Law Scotland (RTA Law Scotland)
Cycling UK
Get Glasgow Moving
John Gilbert Architects
Many Studios CIC
Pedal on Parliament
Raeburn Farquhar Bowen
Replace the M8
Woodlands Community Garden
In January 2023 our friend and colleague, Emma Burke Newman was killed whilst cycling from her home in the Southside to Glasgow School of Art.
She was a brilliant young woman and is sorely missed by us all at New Practice. She was also a confident and committed cyclist used to the challenges of urban cycling and found joy in the freedom a bike offers.
As a team we have been finding our wheels again and continue to be committed to making our cities safer places for walking, biking and wheeling through the projects we work on and outside of our professional lives.
Waiting to Happen brings these together
You can read more about the project, featured in the Guardian Observer here:
or in Umarell Issue 03 ‘Out the Box’
safer city
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walking
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wheeling
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safer city 〰️ walking 〰️ wheeling 〰️
Through our daily experiences of commuting from the Southside to the City Centre, we have identified three junctions which provide a particular challenge: the Casino, the Clutha, and the Court at Glasgow Green.
These junctions are our focus of study as they feel like incidents-waiting-to-happen, and one is the site of Emma's death. We have shed tears at these junctions and we have felt other's rage, our own frustrations, and some of us avoid them to feel safer on our way to work. As urban designers we understand that sensible compromise is a core requirement of making urban infrastructure, and we seek to find solutions that respond to actual use where this differs from the design.
At each the combination of different types of active travel infrastructure: Core Paths, Shared Paths, Spaces for People Cycle Routes, and use of the Main Carriageway create situations where the use conflicts with the design, leading to unsafe interactions between pedestrians, cyclists and vehicular traffic.
The Casino at King George V Bridge and Broomielaw
The Clutha at Gorbals Street x Clyde Street
The Court at Glasgow Green, at Crown Street/Saltmarket x Clyde Street
Through Waiting to Happen we have gathered anecdotal, qualitative and quantitative data from surveys, open 3rd August to 6th October 2023. We received a huge number of responses, with over 1,000 survey participants and hundreds of ‘final thoughts’.
These are helping to inform solutions specific to these locations and create systems for a safer city for us all. Thank you to everyone who has shared their stories and ideas with us.
What’s next?
New Practice are reviewing the anecdotal, qualitative and quantitative data and experiences submitted by you and are bringing together solutions specific to these locations.
We will be presenting the data to Glasgow City Council’s Active Travel committee via local councillors with the aim to promote safer design for junctions and the implementation of immediate changes to make our journeys in the city safer.
We are also keen to understand if you think any other locations or junctions have similar issues and challenges? Please share any final thoughts, ideas and other junctions below, or you can email us your thoughts directly at waitingtohappen@new-practice.co.uk
The Casino junction looking North East from the pavement on King George V Bridge towards the city centre and the railway bridge going into Central Station
This is the current layout of the junction. There are long term proposals in development for a series of works along the riverfront, with a specific focus on upgrading the experience of the riverfront.
This might include some changes to the cycling and walking routes along the river. There are no design proposals for this yet.
The Casino
At the Casino, the National Cycle Path and local Cycleways coincide, but that interaction does not seem clear and creates unsafe interactions with cyclists, drivers and pedestrians.
The Clutha junction looking North East from the pavement on Victoria Bridge towards the city centre and the Clutha bar
This is the current layout of the junction. As the South City Way is expanded to include a two-way segregated cycle route along the southern side of the Briggait, the layout will change to accommodate.
We will be exploring both the current and future scenarios for this junction.
The Clutha
At the Clutha, the South City Way currently ends. This junction will change over time as the final section of SCW is completed and the path to Briggait is formed. However the current intersection between the riverside cycle route, shared paths to the East and the multiple routes into the city centre from here lack clarity again creating unsafe interactions with cyclists, drivers and, pedestrians.
Please see the proposed changes to the intersection that are due to be completed in 2025. More information on future South City Way plans can be found on the Glasgow City Council website.
Design proposal from Glasgow City Council
The Court at Glasgow Green junction looking North East from the pavement on Albert Bridge towards Glasgow Green
This is the current layout of the junction. There are no proposals for changes to this junction.
The Court at Glasgow Green
At the Courthouse, the connection between Core Paths, Shared Paths, segregated cycle ways (under Spaces for People) and the main carriageway makes it difficult to continue journeys in both directions and puts cyclists in direct competition with vehicular traffic when turning right.
