Coloured asphalt for innovative cyclops roundabout design

After a successful award for grant funding from the Department for Transport, Lancashire County Council planned an ambitious active travel infrastructure project which aimed to increase opportunities to choose walking and cycling for short journeys instead of cars. The wider vision is to create better connected, greener, safer and healthier communities for local people to live and work. The Penwortham to Preston Cycleway required extensive redevelopment of two sections of the Liverpool Road/Fishergate Hill corridor between Penwortham and the City Centre. The Broadgate/Fishergate Hill junction used an innovative ‘cyclops’ design with a two way a segregated cycleway circling the junction that enabled continuous flow of cycle traffic through the junction, while allowing pedestrians to use zebra crossings. The Butler Street section provided a segregated cycleway connecting the city centre railway station to National Cycle Route 55. 

A key element of the design of this four-way junction was clear visual demarcation between the four approaching roads and the new segregated cycleway. This was achieved by using a bright colourful material that provides a high contrast with the black asphalt road as well as the new white road markings. As the new cycleway would be driven over by high volumes of vehicles including buses, it would also need to be tough and durable. After discussions with Tarmac’s technical team ULTICOLOUR coloured asphalt was chosen in a Classic Green, Buff Quartzite and Classic Red colour. ULTICOLOUR asphalts are BBA HAPAS accredited as a thin surface course and have been used on UK roads for over 20 years, demonstrating impressive long-term durability even on heavily trafficked routes such as bus lanes.

Work on the Broadgate junction was completed as planned, with sections of the existing surface course planed out and replaced with ULTICOLOUR in a distinctive green colour. Road markings were added to identify the route as a cycleway and identify zebra crossing points. The new ULTICOLOUR surfaces have helped to improve safety at key locations on this cycle route and signal to other road users that cyclists are to be given priority. It has also offered local people several new safe, healthy, low emission methods of transport that will hopefully help fulfil Lancashire County Council’s aim of encouraging active travel.