New cycleways springing up - thoughts?

[passionate off roader]

Noticed that in quite a few towns now, sections of some main roads are being set aside for the exclusive use of cyclists, and I was just wondering what the more experienced cyclists on here thought about them. I'm personally not too sure. The lane is quite narrow, so I'd be worried about occasionally going slightly off course and careering into one of the posts. Although they're probably not all like the one in the pic.

The pic shows a town in East Sussex and the guy in the pic is MP Tim Loughton.

Obviously this is all due to the push for a greener environment, accelerated by covid.

By the way folks, apologies in advance if I've not posted this in the right place, or indeed if it's not the sort of thing that's up for discussion. Please forgive me as I've not been here long, and therefore not fully familiar with all the ins and outs.

 

[Nealh]

They are only temporary, the ones where I live in W.Sx have all but been removed and all that is left is some part white cycle lane markings with white painted bike. Totally unsatisfactory and in no way adds to the safety of any cyclist at all.
Mostly vehicles were driving a bit slower except Tuffnel lorries they all seem to think it is acceptable to drive much faster then the posted limits.

 

[Wicky]

Here in Colchester they are building them in some odd places - even after local cycle groups have told them they aren't required and will be a waste of money.

'Barely used £780k cycle path was a grotesque waste of public money’

Just 24 cyclists were recorded using the cycle path in Mile End Road, Colchester, in 12 hours.

www.gazette-news.co.uk

Council to press ahead with controversial £750,000 cycle path scheme

ESSEX County Council has vowed to press ahead with its controversial Mile End Road cycle scheme – but its opponents say they have not given up…

www.gazette-news.co.uk

New delay for £750,000 cycle path nobody wanted

A CONTROVERSIAL shared cycle and footpath costing £750,000 has been delayed.

www.gazette-news.co.uk

 

[Charliefox]

Some people complain the cycle lanes are too narrow, but in Inverness they are often too wide! And very ugly with big plastic barriers. Some time ago the council spent a fortune widening the pavement on a busy dual carriageway into the centre, about a mile long. They made this into a shared pedestrian/cycle path. I used it often and, because the cycle numbers were few, it worked fine. Then came covid and out came the barriers as one lane of the dual carriage way was designated a cycleway. This caused bad traffic jams and, frankly, was not needed as the cycle numbers did not go up much. Not that the council would know, as they had taken down the electronic counter from the now hardly used shared pedestrian/cycle path! The 2 way road past the lovely, just renovated, Town House was also made one way to give cyclists a lane to themselves. More ugly barriers. I only hope they will all be removed before the tourist season begins in some distant? date. Given we have had a constant cool temperature since last November, which has only just ended, the cyclist numbers diminshed rather than increased. I think we have a tin-eared council!!

 

[flecc]

By the way folks, apologies in advance if I've not posted this in the right place, or indeed if it's not the sort of thing that's up for discussion. Please forgive me as I've not been here long, and therefore not fully familiar with all the ins and outs.

Please don't worry too much about protocol, we're pretty flexible about that sort of thing,

All members and posts welcome.
.

 

[Michael Price]

The problem with lobbing a new cycle path/lane at a place if that they require a lot more thinking about than people realise - and chucking a white line at a road and nailing a few plastic bollards along it isn't really enough

They need to - obviously - be somewhere they will be used
but also they need to be signposted properly and the entry and exit needs to be thought out and done properly. We have several great cycle paths round here - but they thenjust sort of stop with no warning or easy method of merging onto the road - in some cases it is actually impossible to realise that you are no longer on a cycle path unless you know the road! In another cse we have a great cycle path - except that it is though an inductrialestate witha lot of workshops, depots etc all along it - and every one has a small kerb - about 0.5 inches - which is enough to make it very uncomfortable, even with 700c tyres - $deity knows what t would feel like on a road bike!
and, of course, at every entrance to a depot/workshop you have to slow down and check if a lorry is coming in or out


so - cycle lanes good - probably

planned cycle - much better - and planned properly by someone who knows what cyclists need!

Reminds me - new Widnes-Runcorn bridge is open - OK it's the old one but refurbished - and has a great cycle lane
and I must email the councellor about the cycle lane marking - you have to find the way on and off it using 'The Force' at time!

 

[Scorpio]

Cramlington in Northumberland expanded a lot in the 1960s, part of the growth included cycle tracks (with footpath alongside) that link all areas of the town. The system works well as the routes are away from the roads & cars, so are safe for cyclists of all ages & abilities. Surfaces are decent with no dangerous defects, junctions have great visability so it's easy to work around anyone else using the tracks. Problems are very rare.

In contrast some "new" cycleways have been created linking other nearby towns, all the ones I have tried are badly thought out and badly maintained. I always avoid them and use the roads to due to potholes on the tracks, and their poor design including stepped kerbs and other obstructions.
Some roads have been narrowed in recent years to create a cycle track alongside the road, not ideal as you are mixing cars and cycles on the same tarmac, cars joining or leaving the road are a danger as they have to cross the cycle track.

 

[Gringo]

Rushmore road, Northampton.
It’s fairly steep hill and as long as I can remember has had white lines either side denoting cycle lanes, the lines leave the remaining road a little narrow especially as the up hill side always a few cars parked over the cycle part.
Late last year the down hill side was bollarded (is that a word?) this created a segregated lane which soon became unsafe as it strewn with twigs and branches from the over hanging trees and at one end of the road bollards were being knocked down as they made the road too narrow for wider vehicles !
I drive on this road 4 times a week and the only people I’ve seen in this lane are council workers clearing the branches (once a week) and regularly the same dog walker !
last week the road was closed for a few days and to my surprise all the bollards have gone leaving only a new white line.

How much did this futile exercise cost the taxpayers ?
This is just one of many bad cycling ideas throughout the land, all planned by committee, probably none of whom cycle.
(my personal pet hate is cycle lanes that are used as car parks)

 

[vfr400]

How much did this futile exercise cost the taxpayers ?
This is just one of many bad cycling ideas throughout the land, all planned by committee, probably none of whom cycle.
(my personal pet hate is cycle lanes that are used as car parks)

A couple of things come to mind concerning that.

First scenario: With good intentions, they tried something positive, but due to not being cyclists themselves and lack of expertise in these matters, the idea was flawed, so it didn't work. They learned something from the exercise and they'll use that knowledge to make better solutions in the future.

Second scenario: They never cared about cyclists. Somebody made a pot of money available to improve cycling infrastructure, so they dished the money out to their mates to do anything that would make a massive profit and get a big enough back-hander from said profit.

 

[TSargeant]

Yeah, we’ve had some frankly weird decisions made by Reading council. We’ve got a few new cycle lanes, but they seem totally arbitrary in where they’ve been placed. There’s one near me that I’ve never actually seen a cyclist on, it’s about 500m long, is a two way cycle lane that replaced a car lane, and ends with a t junction at either end onto a multi lane ring road. Bonkers.

By contrast there’s not any money spent on maintaining what they do have...

 

[Michael Price]

We have a great new cycle lane on the Widnes-Runcorn old bridge which has just been re-opened

but in one direction it just ends and you are left on a pavement on the wrong side of a main road with no indication of where to go next

coming onto the new roads for the bridge the cycle lane start with no indication that it even exists - a bit later there is a temporary warning sign saying the road is now live and cyclists and pedestrians should stick to the designated path - but with no indication of where that lane is!!

Great idea and mostly well thought out - but fails because of a few minor lapses in thinking
like most cycle lanes around here!

I have emailed the local councillor about it - but with the elections coming up I think she will be out of office before she gets a chance to do anything

 

[OllieB]

A lot of new cycle lanes were put in place in Cardiff during the first lockdown (when there was little traffic anyway). Now that traffic is running more or less normally, the cycle lanes have been removed

 

[Charliefox]

Hope they remove some of those in Inverness too. Not sure about one though, as they have put green tarmac down on it. Since it was swiped from a dual carriageway and is vitually unused, it merely pisses off the motorists who have to converge into 1 lane now. And the council spent half a million quid a few years ago to widen the pavement, going the same way, to dual pedestrian/cyclist use. It works fine with the limited traffic on it. It must have been Covid money that had to be spent!!