Your questions answered: Pedestrian and cycle access to and through York Central [updated]

Please note, some of the content in this piece has been updated, following the submission of additional or new information by the Partnership, as part of the planning process. The updated information has been highlighted in bold italics below.

If you would like to review the revised planning application in full, this can be found at the City of York’s planning website by visiting  https://planningaccess.york.gov.uk/online-applications/ and entering the reference number 18/01884/OUTM into the search box.

To review the original version of this document, please visit: https://yorkcentral.wpengine.com/2018/09/14/your-questions-answered-pedestrian-and-cycle-access-to-and-through-york-central/

This piece looks at how people will walk and cycle through York Central and its connections with the wider city.

How can you walk and cycle through the York Central site?

Ensuring easy access for pedestrians and cyclists to and through the York Central site is a key priority for the Partnership. The current points of access, including (1) the Wilton Rise footbridge, (2) Marble Arch tunnel, (3) the western entrance to the Railway Station and (4) the Leeman Road underpass, are poor quality and, in some cases, inadequate for cyclists, pushchairs or those with mobility issues.

The development of York Central will see dramatic improvements to the accessibility of the site, creating new and improved links to surrounding communities and to the existing city centre. A variety of new streets, cycleways and paths within the site will allow for easy navigation through York Central.

The plans below outline how people will be able to walk and cycle to and through York Central and the key principles behind this.

Plan 1 – Proposed pedestrian routes for York Central

Plan 2 – Proposed cycling routes for York Central

1. How we are improving routes for pedestrians and cyclists?

There are a number of objectives behind the design of the new network of streets and cycleways. These are focused on promoting walking and cycling as a safe, easy and rapid way to travel to and through the site.

• Safer routes – A series of open and well-lit streets, paths and cycleways that benefit from natural surveillance from homes, businesses and continuous use of public spaces. All routes will also be designed to ensure they meet the needs of those with visual and other mobility restrictions and allow them to travel around the paths safely.
• Segregated routes – Key pedestrian and cycle routes will be segregated from vehicles, improving safety and making it easier for people to reach their destination either within York Central or the surrounding communities.
• Accessible routes – The new routes will have more appropriate gradients and much wider paths than the current network (including Leeman Road), making it easier, safer and more accessible, particularly for those with wheelchairs, buggies, guide dogs and cycles or those carrying luggage.
• Improved routes – The new and improved network of streets will provide a series of direct routes to reach the city centre, surrounding communities and destinations within York Central. The routes and journeys people make around York Central will change and they will discover new routes into the city and to the station.

2. Walking and cycling to the city or station from St Peter’s Quarter

• You will be able to access the Leeman Road tunnel and Marble Arch using a dedicated pedestrian connection (labelled as route 11 on the diagram below) through the museum during its opening hours.
• Outside of these hours, a safe and well-lit route (route 13 on the diagram below) will be available to the south of the National Railway Museum. This route has been optimised by allowing the best available access across the National Railway Museum’s south yard.
• A new pedestrian route (labelled as route 12 on the diagram below) into St Peter’s Quarter could be created which will connect people to the existing route through the museum or to a new route connecting them to the station and the city centre through the museum’s south yard or park.
• As a consequence of these proposals, the new route will have the following impact on walking distances and time from St Peter’s Quarter to the station:
  • It currently takes 8 minutes 45 seconds to walk the 700 metres to the station and 3 minutes 30 to cycle (route 10)
  • The new route through the museum (route 11) reduces that to 625 meters and is 56 seconds faster for pedestrians
  • Walking around St Peters Quarter along the new route (labelled as route 13 on the map below) will add 154 meters onto the journey and just under two minutes to the journey, taking 10 minutes 41 seconds to reach the station. It will add 46 seconds to a cycle journey on this route.
  • If the new connection into the side of St Peter’s Quarter is created (route 12), this would reduce walking distance to the station to 630m and be 53 seconds quicker, taking 7 minutes 52 seconds.

Plan 3 – Proposed routes to the city centre and train station from St Peter’s Quarter

• As a consequence of these proposals, the new route will have the following impact on walking distances and time from St Peter’s Quarter to the city:
  • It currently takes 7 minutes 56 seconds to walk the 635 metres to Station Rise via Marble Arch and 3 minutes 11 to cycle (route 14)
  • On the new routes from St Peters Quarter to Station Rise, via Marble Arch, pedestrians will see journeys times increase by between 49 seconds (route 15 through the museum) and 5 minutes 11 seconds (route 17 on the map below from the Leeman Road exit of the Quarter)
  • Depending on the route used, cyclists will see increases of between 48 seconds (using route 16) and 2 minutes 5 seconds (using route 17)

Plan 3a – Proposed routes to Station Rise via Marble Arch

• Further information on each of the proposed routes can be found in the Addendum to the Planning Statement (January 2019)

3. Walking and cycling to the city or station from the Leeman Road ‘Island’ community

• There will be a wide choice of routes available from the Leeman Road underpass if you are walking and cycling into York Central, or through to the city centre or the station.
• In many cases residents will benefit from a reduction in journey distance and time when heading to and from the station from this area, because there will be an increased number of more direct routes available to them, depending on the path taken. (Illustrated in Plan 4 below)
• More people will be using the routes, visiting the shops, bars, cafes and public spaces. In addition, the streets and public spaces will benefit from natural surveillance from the homes and offices and much improved street lighting meaning the routes will be safer.

Plan 4 – Potential routes from Salisbury Terrace and Kingsland Terrace to the city centre and station

• As a consequence of the new proposals, the new routes will have the following impact on walking distances and time
• From Leeman Road Island to the city:
  • It currently takes 14 minutes 22 seconds to walk the 1150 metres to Station Rise via Marble Arch and 5 minutes 45 seconds to cycle (route E5 on the plan below)
  • On the new routes from Leeman Rd Island to Station Rise, via Marble Arch, pedestrians will see journeys times increase by between 51 seconds (route 7 through the museum) and 5 minutes 11 seconds (route 9 on the map below)
  • Depending on the route used, cyclists will see increases of between 1 minute 17 seconds (using route 8) and 2 minutes 5 seconds (using route 9)

Plan 4a – Proposed routes to Station Rise via Marble Arch

• From Leeman Road Island to the station:
  • It currently takes 15 minutes to walk the 1200 metres to the station and 6 minutes to cycle (route E1 on the plan below)
  • On the new routes from Leeman Rd Island to the station, it will be 43 seconds quicker for pedestrians walking through the museum (route 2) or, at its longest, take an additional 2 minute 19 seconds (route 4 below)
  • If pedestrians take the new route through the Foundry Quarter and the park (route 3) it will add an additional 30 seconds to their walk
  • Depending on the route used, cyclists will see increases of between 12 seconds (using route 3) and 55 seconds (using route 4)

Plan 4b – Proposed routes to the station 

4. Improved connections to the south

• There will be a new, or improved, footbridge over the railway lines to connect York Central with Holgate Road, using either Wilton Rise or Chancery Rise.
• The footbridge will have a ramp instead of steps to improve accessibility for those with mobility issues, using wheelchairs, prams and buggies and cyclists.
• Improvements will be made to the route to Holgate Road, whether taken along Wilton Rise or provided along Chancery Rise.

Plan 5 – the proposed new routes, which will provide improved pedestrian access from the south

• Cyclists and pedestrians travelling from Water End will have a more direct route to the station and into the city centre via the new spine road through the site, as shown in pink on the plan below.
• As well as a new dedicated pedestrian and cycle bridge alongside Water End bridge, a new segregated cycle route from the west of the city will run parallel to the new main road through the site, providing an attractive alternative to Poppleton Road and Bootham Road as a route to the city centre.

Plan 6 – Proposed pedestrian and cycle routes from Water End to the city centre