The £15 Million Cyclops Junction | St Helens | Is It Worth The Wait?

I visit the relatively new Cyclops Junction in Saint Helens to have a look at whether or not it was money well spent.

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So this is my first attempt this is a few days before I made the video thought it was uh I right to come down and have a little look at it and this is probably the true test of some new Junction or some Road works that have

Change layout it’s how you deal with it first time so let’s have a little look I’ve got no idea how this is laid out and what it’s all about so let’s go and have a look I used to work in St Helen’s teaching when I first started the job

And this used to be a flat sided roundabout it’s quite straightforward to be honest um we used to use it all the time it was sort of like a little cut through as well from different areas um test center isn’t too far away from here either so it’s probably going

To be something that’s going to be used on driving test but that’s really um what I’m talking about here this is just how this Junction now seems now I am going to take what used to be the second exit at the roundabout it used to come

On then there was a sharp left and then one a bit further down just along the flat sides so I’m going to try and take that one and see how we go with it so how easy it is to uh negotiate where I want to go so bus lane is that outside of

Operation I think it’s in operation so I’m going to wait and go into it after which is what you should do people will often just do as the other vehicles did there let’s have a little look at it from here that’s the uh okay all right that’s

The road uh that leads out towards the back end of the m62 looks as though it’s just a straight road through now don’t know we’ll have a little look at it as we uh as we go on got to be careful if people wish to come back in here because of the bus

Lane so that’s super straightforward a lot of markets on the junction so it’s just a normal Crossroad for the vehicles that’s actually dead simple let’s turn around and go and have a little look at it and uh and see what it’s like for pedestrians and cyclists which is what it’s been redesigned for

The cycle Lanes um have been here for a while to be honest um this up at the sides these ballards are um quite protective of the cyc lane but looking at it it doesn’t then leave cyclist much room for maneuver uh the JW’s out on these bards for me

But concentrating on uh now as we come up to it just what it’s uh what it’s like for pyus and pedestrians I will get out not today but I will get out and have a little walk through this Junction myself at some point so so on the turn left we can see

Uh obviously green areas are for the bikes which is good it looks as though the uh the other areas the uh salmony colored areas are for pedestrians by by the looks of it looks pretty straightforward to be honest just a normal Crossroads it’s filter Lanes here to this side traffic’s flowing

Quite nicely not much is waiting it’s half1 in the in the morning and traffic isn’t going to be massive but um the lights are all nice and clear let’s have a little look um cyclist get to uh flow all the way around by the lops of it which is good okay easy

Enough so it’s not a couple of days later since I first did the Cyclops Junction out in St Helens it’s a few months um quite soon after I got rid of the golf um and without the golf I didn’t have a bike rack uh the Cyclops

Junction is about 13 mil or so um not that I’m saying I couldn’t rid out there I could have done especially with the electrical assistance but things have just literally got in away so we are actually a few days before Christmas just finished work and uh we’re on a Saturday

Is it the 23rd yes it is Saturday the 23rd I got my um toe bar fitted to the focus last week and now obviously we’ve got use of the bike rack again so I’m taking a little trip out to the Cyclops Junction today we’ve driven around it obviously

But today we’re going to bike around it and see actually how it works works I know it’s not super complicated but I’ve got a little thought that cyclists aren’t necessarily going to be massively benefit from this type of Junction I’ll show you what I’m talking

About I think we will go and see whether we can uh leave this somewhere safe in this uh car park this is another little problem that you can have with the bike rack on the back is the where are you going to park how am we going to go about doing this

Well for me I think the best option would be for me to leave it as far away from um people clipping me as possible so I’m going to go in here and I’m obviously going to reverse and utilize the space at the back now it’s not always going to be this straightforward

But honestly um it can be a little bit of awkwardness okay this is something that um I haven’t been able to get fixed yet with the car it’s not been able to be fully coded yet when you do select reverses you found out it thinks um

You’re really close to stuff so you just have to press a button for now but that will be coded in the near future yeah I think we’re good and we’re nicely on the pavement at the back let’s get the bike out okay all SED um cameras are all running and all going

Let’s uh get down there and go and have a little look now what I’m going to do first is just have a little bike of a lock to my car yes I have um I’m going to have a little bike from a couple of directions but I’m trying to test if

Cyclists are going to benefit from all the cost time effort and money obviously um of doing this Junction because I’ve got my doubts whether or not cyclists are just going to binag the whole thing go on any buddy fellow Focus S here okay um yeah I’ve got my doubts

Whether or not cyclists are going to benefit from um the this Junction I think most cyclists what they’re going to do is just binag it not have to uh or well not wait and just carry on through so personally I think that just increases conflict between two sets of Road users

Trying to use the same space and um not sure how many cyclists would be actually coming down this way just to use this Junction this is another thing this section that I’ve just driven past I’ve already said about these ballards I’m not a great lover of

Them cyclists as you can see have to deal with all the rubbish that’s in these cycle areas now it’s all right for me I’ve got a mountain bike um I’ve got uh pretty tough tires although they’re not puner proof um I’ve got pretty tough tires and they should be able to deal

With most of this but I don’t think these cycle areas are particularly good if cyclists then choose not to use them that just causes absolute aggro for me I wouldn’t have these um in any case that’s a another subject for another day we’re going to have a little look at

This like I said the first time I’m just going to go straight over and I’m going to have to deal with this van first of all all um no they shouldn’t Park in the cycle areas but honestly just deal with it just check move around safely keep

Outside the door Zone check and come back it’s not a big deal just because you’re mildly inconvenience honestly there’s uh there’s bigger problems on our roads than that so just deal with it so here um it’s good because I can skip through the lights here have to make sure

There’s no other cyclers coming make sure there’s no pedestrians cuz pedestrians would have the priority there now what I’m going to do is just go up to this line make sure I don’t block it for any pedestrians as well I wonder how this works does it just time it when uh it’s

My turn and let me go potentially so we’ve got the lights that side and obviously that side if you can see with my camera hopefully you can and all I’m going to do is just uh just wait for my light now if you think if I’d used the main

Road and just waited in traffic I would have been gone I would have been down there somewhere and this is my sort of point with Junctions like this that all they’re really doing is just creating an extra area where it’s going to encourage Maybe cyclist just a binag

This this for me is utterly pointless it’s ridiculous so how long have I waited now my lights are still on red I’d be halfway home no not from here but you get the points so honestly uh my initial Impressions before of even ridden it for me they they’re absolutely right it would

Be illegal for me to go through these Reds um I only found this out to be honest I didn’t realize probably is going to be same I’m assuming because it’s it’s like a t crossing a cyclist come right across so it’s going to be the same as a two

Crossing but I did a recent video on the tiger or parallel Crossing down the south end of Liverpool and uh I rode through two lights like this just just across the road so where am I going to go by the way they’re still on red do I just sit here and

Wait when is it my turn so yeah if it did go through these it would as far as I think be illegal there we go at last we got some lights so what benefit is that for cyclists yeah it’s lovely it keeps me out the way

The traffic here but like I said the weight all it’s going to do is just encourage people just to go through and then there’s a conflict anyway pointless next thing where’s my cycle laying on disappeared so this is the problem with it for me that people are

Um encouraged to get on a bike just because they’ve spent hundreds of thousands of pounds don’t exactly know how much on that Cyclops Junction but they’ve spent so much money on that particular Junction and then the cycle Lanes have just disappeared here I’ve got to be back on the road so if it

Have just kept on the road anyway through that Junction which does seem nicely managed it seemed staggered quite well honestly it would have been perfectly safe let’s go around to a different direction and see whether um anything’s different from a different side I don’t think it’s going to

Be so if I turn right it’s going to head us from a different side I think you’ve got the idea of what this Junction is all about it’s called the Cyclops because obviously it’s like an eye and you can cycle all the way around I think cycle

And cyclops has got something to do with it as well but like I said from First Impressions I would have just preferred to just ride on the road I’m uh quite happy to mix it with the traffic show your awareness be seen understand if there’s a conflict

Between two Road users using the same space you got to do something about it even if you’ve got priority and someone hasn’t seen you or someone’s just going to go anyway so honestly um no issue extra arm signal let’s see how the cycle areas are approaching from

This direction don’t know the name of the road I do know where I am I started teaching in St Helens I think I said that on my initial drive when I was in the uh in the Gulf thank you that driver was uh quite nice to me

There so let’s have a little look about the cycle areas that’s not brilliant is that even a cycle area I think it’s probably just a parking area I was uh riding in there so this is like we said to encourage people to get on the bike use the bike

And stop using the car and it’s designed to segregate different Road users so um honestly um there’s less conflict but I think by my initial findings that’s probably not the case I’m a big believer of educating Riders and drivers to work with each other you cannot have thank you buddy um thank

You um you cannot have segregated cycle areas every single portion of your journey so you have to have some skill to be able to deal with situations think about what I said before about the cycle areas as well this it’s awful if you hit that log Well Log it’s

A bit over exaggeration but if you hit that tree tree stump no it’s even worse if you hit that uh section of Branch that’s better um if you’re on a road bike honestly you’d be off this is awful why the hell do they even bother with cycle areas like

This stupid in my opinion what’s your thoughts so we’re coming up to uh the Cyclops again I’m going to go ahead again there’s more people in the cycle area that’s okay just deal with them but again I’m going to go ahead I wouldn’t have been able to get

Through with those cars that’s fine but I’m going to have a little look here am I in for a long wait again well let’s have a little think if I have waited in that lane I’m going to see when those lights would have gone compared to these cycle lights

I know it’s not all about um getting there in the shortest time it’s not about that but this is the reasoning why I think this is utterly pointless cuz people will just been bag it and just go to anyway how many cyclist are going to just go to let see what this guy

Does he’s waiting as well it’s nice to see a cyclist to be honest so this traffic to my right if I have just waited in that line of traffic I would have been away and gone again it’s interesting isn’t it it’s nice to see the guy behind like

Said wait not sure whether he’s just waiting for me because I’ve stopped he’s decided to decided to stop don’t know might very well be the case but it looks as though the cyclists just have a turn just like all the different motorists do which I understand we can’t

Just think well cyclist have got the ultimate right away and they can just go as and when um that guy over there nearly just came off um I do think that these areas sometimes the green areas that I’m sat on can be a little bit slippy not

Because the green but the extra layer over the top I find to be a little bit slippier so here we go still waiting do they run off these senses up at the top possibly that’s the second time that those vehicles have gone through I’m doing what I should do I’m waiting behind the

Line is that sensor set a little low let’s go a little bit further forward so we’ll put the wheel over the line now so for me I think you understand what I’m saying this is a pretty big fail all together already I am going to wait here until these lights change

Are they going to change Now is it going to be our turn no is are on no Sensors how many cyclists would have waited like have waited here we go at last so the guy behind did the same thing so I’m going to go up this way this

Time um I think this is a cycle area is it no M the pavement think come on the pavement okay so we’ll go down here we’ll follow this guy I want to head a little bit further down yeah it does cut through that’s quite nice no problems so that’s uh a pretty

Good little root through no issues with that so I’m going to get a little bit further down let’s see what goes on here he’s just gone on the pavement and again I have to wait for these lights let’s have a little look to see how long

I’m going to have to wait and then I’m going to retrace my roots again unfortunately I waited for another 4 minutes and through numerous cycles for the vehicles and none for me would this discourage you from using this Junction is it h no it’s traffic from behind

Again you know what fed up with this turn around going back home and I think that really sums it up I’m not even going to bother going through with the traffic cuz I think it’s pretty obvious that it would be quicker if I just mixed it with the cars

In the lane it absolutely would so I’ve seen one cyclist while I’ve been here it’s Cyclops as well it’s one way so let’s do it properly it’s going to have another wait for 15 minutes you got a wave to these sensors so my my assessment of it is I think

You’ve already uh sused out what my assessment is it’s absolutely awful it’s a waste of time time and money put into this it’s just a big PR stunt for me does it do much to actually improve Road Safety um it might do compared to what the roundabout was like before but

Effectively cyclist and pedestrians they’ still got to do the same sort of thing they’ve got to cross this section of the road cross that section of Road and then get to the other if they wanted to go over that far side so again sat here waiting the lights are still on red

So now I don’t think it’s a good idea driving through it’s fine it’s just noral Crossroads effectively it’s quite nicely staggered different um sections of the crossroad go at different times which is safe here we go finally get going um and it looks as though I can go

Through this section as well nice just making sure there’s no conflict um so yeah it’s pretty good on those terms but I think it’s uh an absolute waste a lot of people have messaged me about it saying there’s been problems I don’t know what problems have been

Um was an instructor who and know who said about there’s been a couple of problems on driving test with I can’t see honestly how because it’s actually not that complicated to drive through um these areas in the middle they’re not massive so maybe if people pile into the areas

That they’re going to be doing the right turn those in the middle over there um they might then not be able to clear before or a different section starts going or even one of the cycle areas starts going but again just think of the time it’s taking me to get from over

There to here and I’m still not coming through it’s funny is it not going to come back here anytime soon either um but that’s probably just about it what’s your thoughts on that how do you start and with cycling infrastructure compared to the ability of cyclists of whatever age to be able

To deal with motorists and motorists of I was going to say all ability but that is the issue I was going to make a point that motorists have to do better with cyclist much much better because cyclists using the road are the most vulnerable pedestrians I’m excluding

Them because most of the time the pedestrians are on a pavement I think you understand where I’m coming from but for me um education’s always going to win this country is not designed well enough from the beginning to accommodate cyclists the Dutch have been doing it

For many years and I’m yet to go over there and have a look at their cycle infrastructure I will do soon though but for me that’s an absolute wet where yeah and we have to put up with uh dog poo splattered all over me back and me cameras lovely keep safe everyone

I’ll see you soon