Why do cycle and pedestrian routes need signing?

A selection of signs.

The fifth most important thing that would encourage people to take up cycling or to cycle more is to ‘Raise awareness of local cycle routes’ and number 8 is ‘Visible signposting of low-traffic cycle routes’ (National Transport Attitude Study Wave 9 2024). While many people will use apps to navigate, unless they are regular cyclists they won’t know the cycling specific ones. Signing can tell a non-cyclist that there is a cycle route to the very place they really need to go and also that it isn’t as far away as they thought it was.

Bristol. Three young people figure out how the harbour area works.

Cycle and pedestrian direction signing ranges from wayfinding, through conventional highway signs to the ‘legible city’ concept using signs and maps orientated to the direction the viewer is facing. Transport Initiatives has experience of the whole range of signing types and methods.

A good example of a waymark in Houten (Netherlands).

Cycle and pedestrian direction Waymarking is the simplest form of signing and is useful on long recreational routes. Steve Essex produced the waymarks for the Sandstone Way in Northumberland but we also proposed them in conjunction with conventional signing in Stevenage to cut down the number of signs required.

Warrington Route 5.

Much signing guidance focuses on signing cycle routes and tries to keep signing simple, for instance by recommending only two destinations on each sign; the final destination of the route and the next local destination. This ignores the fact that cyclists may find destinations off the route much more important. We would much prefer to sign networks as a whole recognising that in urban areas cyclist will mix and match routes to suit their needs rather than just sticking to one. Our work in Warrington is a good example.

A larger copy can be found in Local Transport Note 1/20 Figure 13.2.

Local Authorities often ask for route branding. Branding individual routes conflicts with promoting a network and schemes using different coloured signs can conflict with coloured signs used for other types of traffic sign and gives confusing messages if you are colour blind. In Nottingham we proposed a light touch branding compatible with NCN branding and which didn’t belittle non-branded routes. Our explanatory diagram appears in Local Transport Note 1/20 Cycle Infrastructure Design as an example of best practise.

OK, so it is mocked up from a London example but it showed how the system would fit a small town.

The legible city method of signing started in London and has since been rolled out in a number of major cities. We applied it to a smaller town in a project to regenerate the town centre of Hinckley and used bits of the concept added to conventional signing and waymarking in Stevenage.

Here’s one Steve did earlier… Also cited as an example of Best Practise by the DfT even though the design contravenes many of their rules.

A module on signing and waymarking appears in the Active Travel Design course we give on behalf of the Institute of Highway Engineers.

We have also produced direction signing schemes for Rochdale, Stevenage, Bedford Green Wheel, Haringay Green Loop, Stoke on Trent and St Helens. In a previous life Steve produced the initial Pedestrian Direction Signing scheme for Manchester City Centre and schemes for the Fallowfield Loop Line and the Trans Pennine Trail.