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Glasgow to get £6.5m segregated cycle route

Will link Victoria Road with Stockwell Street in the city centre

A new £6.5m segregated cycle route has been given the go-ahead in Glasgow. The 3km-long South City Way is set for completion in summer 2018.

The Scotsman reports that the new route, which will run between Queen’s Park and the Merchant City, has won £3.25m of the Scottish Government's Community Links Plus funding – a sum that will be matched by Glasgow City Council.

Announcing the funding, minister for transport Humza Yousaf said Glasgow City Council had shown real ambition and a clear vision of how to improve conditions for people who choose to walk or cycle along what is a major commuter route. "Transport Scotland supports projects which take active travel to the next level and this project will certainly do that by encouraging more people to make everyday journeys by foot or by bike,” he said.

Matthew MacDonald, CLP Manager at Sustrans Scotland, commented:

“We’re hopeful that Scotland will become a leading example of why places that integrate people moving by foot, bike or public transport are more attractive places to spend time and money, and this leads to stronger local economies and healthier people than places designed around vehicles.

“The South City Way will improve travel choices and accessibility for residents and visitors. Simultaneously, it will reduce congestion, improve air quality, enable easier use of public transport, and create places where people want to socialise, shop, and linger in.”

Institution of Civil Engineers Scotland director Sara Thiam was a member of the Community Links Plus judging panel. She said she had been impressed by the “truly segregated nature of the route” adding that it had been “very well thought through.”

GoBike!, the Strathclyde Cycle Campaign, did however sound a note of caution, saying that lessons needed to be learned from inadequacies in existing infrastructure. Convenor Tricia Fort said:

“The West City Way cycle route from Central Station west to Kelvingrove has some very useful bits, but is not overall to a high standard and connections into it are poor, with inadequate signing.

“It was the first attempt in Glasgow and the city council needs to learn from this. The South-West City Way between the city centre and Pollokshields is much better. There is one short bit of shared footway and a poorly-signed junction at Carnoustie Street, but the route is well used and it takes people from where they live to where they want to go.”

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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13 comments

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds | 6 years ago
0 likes

What a surprise it's a load of shit, simply depressing. They have no sodding idea, absolutely none and yet people on bikes will get the backlash for these people's cretinous decisions.

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Jack Osbourne snr | 6 years ago
1 like

The first section was painted and had the barriers removed today, so I used it.

It's awful.

The sections with kerbs are so poorly positioned and barely visible to the extent that you have to think quickly to either avoid hitting the kerb or staying in the main lane. As a minimum, some hi-viz paint is essential or there will be accidents actually caused by this "cycling infrastructure".

The kerbed sections take you inside a bus stop in a chicane and the surface, albeit new is terrible. It felt like an anchor had deployed from my pannier.

The exit from the bus stop chicane is a standard white line and in true tick box style runs straight into a line of parked cars.

Some of the potholes have been repaired (properly!) but the dips around manholes and other ironworks haven't been touched.

Dear Glasgow City Council, please don't bother finishing this project. This is NOT an improvement to this section of an already busy cycle route.

 

Avatar
Beecho | 6 years ago
5 likes

"Why don't you wear that jumper I got you for Christmas? You wanted a jumper for Christmas."

Not that fucking jumper I didn't.

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Dnnnnnn replied to Beecho | 6 years ago
1 like

Beecho wrote:

"Why don't you wear that jumper I got you for Christmas? You wanted a jumper for Christmas."

Not that fucking jumper I didn't.

Was it a red light jumper...? 

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Jack Osbourne snr | 6 years ago
0 likes

I'm less than delighted to say that work on this has now started.

It would appear that they are digging a slot for kerbstones so it will be completely segregated. Thats great until you get more than one cyclist in the same section.

To be fair, it will be great for those that "pootle" so I guess it may help encourage new cyclists.

 

For the current all year, all weather commuters it will either slow us down or simply end up with us not using it at all... with all the negative knock on effects that will have..

 

 

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Dnnnnnn replied to Jack Osbourne snr | 6 years ago
0 likes

Jack Osbourne snr wrote:

I'm less than delighted to say that work on this has now started.

It would appear that they are digging a slot for kerbstones so it will be completely segregated. Thats great until you get more than one cyclist in the same section.

To be fair, it will be great for those that "pootle" so I guess it may help encourage new cyclists.

For the current all year, all weather commuters it will either slow us down or simply end up with us not using it at all... with all the negative knock on effects that will have..

I fear you might be right - the pavement-ish images don't give much cause for (everyday/brisk cyclist) optimism. But I hope to be proven wrong.

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Yorkshie Whippet | 7 years ago
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Hopefully it will be better than the glass  and gravel strewn car park in Leeds. 

Used appropriate 30 metres and came out with five cuts in my tyres.

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Jack Osbourne snr | 7 years ago
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This is part of my daily commute to work. My reaction when I read this article?

"Aw fuck."

Since repairing a horrific stretch of tarmac between Eglinton Toll and the M74 flyover this is now one of the most incident free stretches of road I use.

I have a feeling that may change for the worse.

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brooksby replied to Jack Osbourne snr | 7 years ago
0 likes

Jack Osbourne snr wrote:

This is part of my daily commute to work. My reaction when I read this article? "Aw fuck." Since repairing a horrific stretch of tarmac between Eglinton Toll and the M74 flyover this is now one of the most incident free stretches of road I use. I have a feeling that may change for the worse.

Unfortunately, that will happen, pretty definitely. Build any new infrastructure and driver behaviour in adjacent roads becomes worse, "cos those cyclists aren't using what's been built for them".

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handlebarcam | 7 years ago
1 like

That's £21.67 per centimetre.

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Cranquebec | 7 years ago
0 likes

I'm sorry but from my experience of riding in Glasgow I don't share the optimism of this article. In fact, I'm wondering if the segregation of the route signals a lack of ambition to tackle some of the issues facing cyclists who live in the city.

What the article or plan doesn't really say is that the 'Southside Corridor' or what is locally known as Victoria Road is already a popular route for cyclists esp commuters and much of their route into the city centre already turns into a road for bikes, buses and taxis. In short, traffic is already segregated.  

IMO if Sustrans and Glasgow City Council had a genuine ambition and wanted to address the unfriendly cycle infrastructure, then they'd be better tackling other routes such as how to cross through the city centre or the route around Pomadie (for those who don't know this is the route from the southside to the city's velodrome). The number of urban motorways and their interchanges make some of the internal city's roads hazardous to say the least.

The artist impression also suggest much about how segregation is viewed by planners. Having experienced other segregated routes in the city (see the new segregated route on the A74 or on the A728) , the path is likely to be either covered in debris or follow a maze like pattern up and down kerbs onto moving carriageways. Personally I feel safer if I stay on the road without cars expecting me to be in a cycle lane.  

As somebody has said before: cyclists are part of the traffic.

 

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bikebot replied to Cranquebec | 7 years ago
2 likes

Cranquebec wrote:

As somebody has said before: cyclists are part of the traffic.

John Franklin. That experiment didn't work.

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tritecommentbot | 7 years ago
2 likes

In related news, Edinburgh council is planning on doing bugger all after a massive costly consultation lasting 10 years. 

 

Then pat themselves on the back.

 

 

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