Section of £13.4m cycle route branded 'wonky'
Watch: Section of £13.4m cycle route branded 'wonky'
A flagship cycle route that cost £13.4m to build has been ridiculed by furious locals who say the layout is “wonky”.
Residents in the Manchester suburb of Chorlton-Cum-Hardy say a crooked 0.7 mile stretch of the lane is “dangerous” to those using it. They have also hit out at a ‘cyclops’ (Cycle Optimised Protected Signals) junction further down the road.
The path looks almost nothing like the glossy ‘Dutch style’ plans laid out roughly six years ago when the route was first unveiled by council chiefs. And locals now fear the bike path on Barlow Moor Road, where cyclists are separated from cars by a series of raised blocks, will cause mayhem for road users.
One cyclist wrote on Facebook: “If you raise the curbs and put objects in the way of cycle[s] it's more dangerous as we have no way to get out the way if there is a car coming for you.” Another resident added: "The public have been messed around for nearly four years it's taken to put these in place. The wonkyness is representative of the 'love' (not) gone into them – the lack of education around people using bikes and the road.”
Matty Shirtcliff, 24, an assistant manager at local bistro Mary & Archie, said the lane “does look quite higgledy-piggledy”. He added: “It doesn’t look very polished. I think, ‘Is it quite done?’ It just does not look very good.”
Others claimed the blocked in the road would result in car crashes and that cyclists were now opting to use the road instead of the lane designed for them.
The project to install new cycle lanes began four years ago - as part of a £1.5bn investment project named ‘Beelines’. Manchester City Council had said at the time it would make “walking and cycling safer” and “reduce the number of short journeys by car” for residents.
Local businesses hit
But local businesses claim the years of traffic disruptions required to install the new bike routes have severely hit their profits. Besmira Myrtaj, 38, the co-owner of Greek restaurant Sali’s Souvlaki, said she was losing £10,000 a month due to constant road works and feared going under. She added: “A lot of businesses aren’t working because they don’t have customers. People do not come this way. They go around because they can’t stop here."
A Manchester Council spokesperson said they “sympathised” with local residents while adding that a range of “unavoidable delays” had put back the project. They said: “While work has taken place as fast as safely possible, there were a range of urgent and unavoidable delays which took place during the course of the project which has set its completion back slightly. We would reassure locals that progress is being made, and we anticipate the end of the project in the near future.”
The spokesperson insisted that “any elements which do not meet our standards are rectified by the contractor”. They added: “We would like to reassure people that this will be taking place, and the issues which have caused the most recent complaints will be addressed."
Cycling in Europe: Which countries and cities are the most and least bicycle-friendly?
Cycling is seen not just as a way to save energy – but also to boost people's physical and mental health. However, it is not always easy to simply jump on a bicycle and take a relaxing ride as some places are not laid out with cyclists in mind.
Despite this, there are some European countries where cycling is extremely popular – and even among the main modes of transport. In particular, the Netherlands is extremely bicycle-friendly, with 41% of residents saying a bike or scooter was their main mode of transport in a 2019 poll of EU citizens.
By some distance, the Netherlands is the most bike-friendly country in Europe. In Sweden, some 21% of people said bicycles or scooters were their main mode of transport. In Germany, that figure stood at 15%.
The other countries that had higher shares of bicycle and scooter use than the EU average (8%) were Hungary (14%), Finland (13%), and Denmark and Belgium (both 12%).
Portugal and Cyprus saw 0% of respondents say that their main mode of transport was bicycles or scooters, with just 2% saying it in the UK and 3% in France.
Breaking down the countries into their respective cities, Denmark capital Copenhagen leads the list of cities in Europe that are the most bicycle-friendly in the world. Amsterdam and Utrecht, both in the Netherlands, follow closely behind. Other cities in the top 20 include Paris, Berlin and Hamburg.
Recommended reading
Work begins on scaled back West Bradford Cycle Superhighway (Bradford Telegraph and Argus)
People put off from cycling or walking due to lack of investment – report (PA Media)
Work to improve safety of cyclists continues a year after the death of Emma Newman (Glasgow Times)
