In 2020, Birmingham City Council (BCC) installed a temporary ‘pop-up’ cycle lane on Bradford Street, as part of the emergency transport measures introduced during lockdown. There was a consultation in November 2021 about making the scheme permanent, and the feedback from that has been used to revise the plans. The current consultation is on those revised plans, and closes on the 28th September 2025.
How Bradford Street fits into the overall cycle network:
The cycle tracks on Bradford Street link to the A45 cycle route that connects to Small Heath, and which will eventually be extended towards the airport. BCC decided that they would not install any cycle infrastructure onto Digbeth High Street, so the flatter route, connecting directly to more destinations, was not used. Instead the cycle route climbs up Bradford Street, above the high street, only to drop steeply down Trinity Terrace to reach the Middleway. The Bradford Street cycle route is a key route, as important as the A38 and A34 routes, and should carry high levels of cycle traffic in the future if BCC do achieve a modal shift towards cycling.
In addition to this cycle route along the length of Bradford Street, the cycle connections across are also important. Anyone cycling from areas in the south-west such as Moseley to the numerous destinations on Digbeth High Street needs to cross Bradford Street. The most attractive route, because it is generally quite flat and direct, is Rea Street, and historically a high number of cycle users have been crossing Bradford Street here, rather than cycling up it.
Bradford Street has also been given a new role in the private motor traffic network after Digbeth High Street had a lot of space re-assigned to the tram and public transport. All private motor traffic travelling to and from the car parking below Moor Street Station and the destinations around there, will be travelling along Bradford Street. As a consequence there will be a higher volume of motor traffic on this street, with the problems that brings.
Our view:
We welcome the efforts to improve this cycle route and make the cycle tracks permanent, and we think that the plans have been improved from the consultation in 2021. Apart from the sub-standard junction with Camp Hill, the new plans do not include any shared-use pavements, giving the cycle tracks better continuity.
The use of ‘floating’ car parking is good, as it discourages car drivers from crossing the cycle track or parking on it. We also appreciate the removal of the guardrails along this cycle route.
Some of the junction mouths have been narrowed, to provide a better experience for people walking across them. The rationalisation of the Barford Street junction will make it much easier to cross, as will the narrowing of one arm of the Alcester Street junction. But it would be good to have continuous footways across the minor side roads, to give more priority to people walking along this street.
The quality of infrastructure for cycle users only travelling along Bradford Street is high, however connections across Bradford Street will not be as good. At the Rea Street junction, there is a unique junction design that helps cycle users on the Rea Street contraflow to get across Bradford Street at the parallel crossing, but there is no similar help for cycle users heading away from Digbeth High Street. Because the parallel crossing needs to be located slightly away from the junction so people can walk across, then the crossing can’t help all cycle users. As Bradford Street will be carrying all of the private motor traffic to and from this side of the city centre, it could be difficult for cycle users to cross Bradford Street without the use of traffic lights. At Alcester Street, the new crossing for pedestrians and cycle users doesn’t have any special features at all, and any cycle user travelling along Alcester Street towards Digbeth High Street will have to move contra-flow up Bradford Street to reach the crossing.
The traffic lights on the Rea Street and Alcester Street junctions are probably being removed as motor traffic movements will be shifting away from crossing movements to travel only along Bradford Street. By removing these two sets of traffic lights, some seconds will be saved on motor traffic journey times, but the replacement crossings for cycle users do not provide the same utility that the previous traffic lights did. There are only 3 cycle and pedestrian crossings along Bradford Street, but this area should see a substantial growth in local residents, and hopefully a growth in local walking and cycling journeys.
To improve safety along Bradford Street for active travel, especially for people crossing, we suggest that the whole length should be 20 mph, to reduce motor traffic speeds on this straight road, and provide more space for crossing. We also think that a junction like that with Rea Street, where there is an important cycle route, should keep their traffic lights, to enable cycle users to cross safely. The parallel crossings adjacent to the junction are insufficient to facilitate all cycle movements across the junction.
We also think that the general carriageway should be reduced to 6.2 meters, and the centre line should be removed for most of the length of Bradford Street. This would assist in slowing down cars, and reduce the distance that people walking and cycling need to cross. There would also be extra space to increase the width of the cycle tracks on this key strategic route, to increase capacity for future increases in cycle use, as well as to provide more space for overtaking slower cycle users when climbing up the hill.
The final junction, with Camp Hill, is not appropriate for a major cycle route. Major cycle routes should not have sections where cycle users are instructed to dismount to use crossing facilities. Money will need to be found to upgrade this junction to bring it up to the standards expected for major cycle routes.
