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Five National Parks are to share in a pot of £2.7m to develop new cycle routes.
The second tranche of funds follows an £12m award in 2013, although several of those schemes later ran into trouble. This time, Dartmoor, the Yorkshire Dales, the South Downs, the Peak District and the Norfolk Broads are to benefit from the cash.
£450,000 will pay for “a new cycle gateway to the Yorkshire Dales National Park” – a fancy way of describing £2.5m of towpath resurfacing and upgrades around Skipton on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. The canal is already popular with cyclists around Leeds and Bradford, but in the Skipton area (pictured) it is notorious for its rough surface.
£675,000 will go towards five schemes including additional routes, on-trail improvements and improved links to nearby areas.
£450,000 to upgrade existing routes to create ‘easy access’ cycling facilities. The South Downs National Park is currently upgrading the ten-mile Meon Trail to replace “a deep muddy surface that rarely dries out”.
£430,000 to create a new short cycle link providing access from North West Matlock to the Monsal Trail. The trail, which follows the former railway line between the East Midlands and Manchester, has proved popular since its recent extension, but currently peters out a short way south of Bakewell. Derbyshire County Council is already working on the extension to Matlock, which will follow the existing footpath next to the Peak Rail preserved railway. In most places it will be 3m wide and surfaced with stone.
£715,000 to construct a shared cycleway and footway between Wroxham/Hoveton and Horning. At present, a busy, narrow A-road is the only option for cycling between the two popular Broadland villages.
Conspicuous by its absence is the New Forest National Park, which has recently called for restrictions to be imposed on cycle events staged in the area. The New Forest authority was forced to hand back £1.6m of funding after the Department for Transport concluded its plans would not provide sufficient benefit for cyclists.
Full marks to the Canberra Times for the punworthy opening sentence of their report: “Former Australian cricketer Bronwyn Calver knows how to handle the odd bouncer, but the kangaroo she collided with while riding her bike almost got the better of her.” Bronwyn survived but, unfortunately, the kamikaze kangaroo didn’t.
A new layout for a busy Oxford junction has caused an upsurge in accidents – to an outcry from local cyclists.
The busy junction between Worcester Street, Hythe Bridge Street, and George Street is on the main route between western Oxford (including the railway station) and the city centre. Previously, only cyclists could turn between all four arms: a central barrier prevented other traffic from turning.
Now the barrier has been removed – and cyclists going across are left to fend for themselves in the tarmac expanse while traffic flows around them. Although the junction is light-controlled, all the phases put straight-on cyclists in conflict with turning motor traffic.
Local councillor Susanna Pressel lodged an urgent question about the new layout, saying:
“I’m getting constant complaints from incredulous people about the new junction. This must be the only cross roads in the world where traffic from the north has a green light at the same time as traffic from the west – while cyclists from the west can legitimately go straight on. Because the traffic from the north can now go in three different directions, cyclists trying to cross the stream of traffic are now in extreme danger.”
Oxfordshire County Council transport supremo David Nimmo-Smith replied that the new layout “reduces traffic in Hythe Bridge Street and helps the whole system flow more smoothly. However, we have looked closely at how the junction is working for cyclists, and decided to make some minor changes which should make a big difference”.
The changes are understood to amount to a small painted ‘storage area’ in the middle of the junction, where cyclists can wait for traffic to clear:
Oxford cycle campaign Cyclox says it has already recorded several accidents at the junction. On a visit earlier this week (pictured) we observed the danger first-hand. Those cyclists choosing to cross the junction were left isolated as double-decker buses and lorries passed on either side, while others appeared to have already given up on the layout and decided to wheel their bikes across the pelican crossings.
The news that London has been waiting for came today – the East-West and North-South Superhighways, nicknamed ‘Crossrail for Bikes’ have been approved.
Designed with Dutch-style segregation from traffic, the Superhighways are set to be the busiest and most significant cycle routes yet built in the UK.
In addition, two further new routes will be built and four upgraded:
The Superhighways were approved at a Transport for London board meeting despite fierce opposition from Canary Wharf’s Peter Anderson, National Express’s John Armitt, and representatives of London taxi-drivers. Armitt described cyclists as “a minority… a danger to themselves”.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, audibly showed his exasperation with Anderson at the TfL meeting. In a statement, he said:
“We know that Londoners want these routes and that they want them to be delivered to the high standard I promised, as quickly as possible. I will keep that promise and spades will begin hitting the ground next month. Thanks to the skill of TfL's engineers and traffic managers, we have made changes which keep the cycle track and junctions segregated, while taking out much less of the route's motor traffic capacity.
“I now look forward to the transformation that these planned routes will bring – not just for people who cycle now, but for the thousands of new cyclists they will attract.”
Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman said the news was highly significant for people outside London: “most importantly of all, it will set a standard for the rest of the country”. Cycling charity Sustrans called it “an important starting point – a real signal of intent”, while CTC called it a “game-changer”.
The new Superhighways will be built throughout 2015 and 2016 at a cost of £160m.
A video released by the British Transport Police shows the danger of ‘running red’ at level crossings. Usually it’s an errant motorist who’s at fault, but in this case, a cyclist tries to beat the lights – and fails spectacularly.
Made in the Cotswolds. Published by Éditions Système D Ltd.
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