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news
Devon Road Bridge on Bristol and Bath Railway Path (licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 by Derek Harper)Cyclists dismount on Bristol-Bath path as crossing work begins
Work to upgrade one of the UK’s most popular shared cycling and walking paths has started, in an attempt to tackle long-standing speeding issues with rush hour cyclists and improve safety for pedestrians crossing beside a school.
People cycling on the Bristol and Bath Railway Path will have to dismount at the junction outside Whitehall Primary School for approximately four weeks while work takes place, to widen a crossing and improve signage.
Bristol City Council has announced several improvements to the area around the school, which was given planning consent recently to expand its premises. Some of the changes will encourage cyclists to slow down, if not tackling the shared space issue.
Renewed speeding warning to cyclists on Bristol & Bath Railway Path
A spokesman for Bristol City Council told the Bristol Post: "Pedestrians using the Bristol and Bath Railway Path, particularly children on their way to Whitehall Primary School, feel intimidated by cyclists using excessive speed.”
Among measures to reduce speeds are realignment of the Railway Path to improve visibility between those on foot and bikes, installation of a raised zebra crossing, as well as “respect the railway” artwork.
Neil Aldridge, of Sustainable transport charity, Sustrans, told road.cc: “The Bristol to Bath Railway Path is a shared space but there are safety risks both to pedestrians and cyclists, particularly at this point.
“This has been a difficult crossing, especially as many pupils from the school use it at peak times.
“We hope that the zebra crossing will alleviate safety risks by making cyclists slow down or stop if necessary and give priority to crossing pedestrians.
Aldridge said asking cyclists to dismount is the “safest and most convenient option”, although he recognises it could cause inconvenience for those on two wheels. The other option, to reroute cyclists onto residential roads, would be less convenient and introduce other risks, he said.
The crossing already has rider activated “slow down” signs, and something called “flashing wig wags”. In future, if money is available, Bristol City Council would like to install a pedestrian footbridge over the Railway Path.
Work started last week, and will take about another four weeks. Last year £80,000 was spent on widening another section of the popular cycling and walking route, which is heavily used by commuter cyclists.
Laura Laker is a freelance journalist with more than a decade’s experience covering cycling, walking and wheeling (and other means of transport). Beginning her career with road.cc, Laura has also written for national and specialist titles of all stripes. One part of the popular Streets Ahead podcast, she sometimes appears as a talking head on TV and radio, and in real life at conferences and festivals. She is also the author of Potholes and Pavements: a Bumpy Ride on Britain’s National Cycle Network.
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13 comments
Some people have difficulty walking that far. But are fine to cycle. Invisible disability stuff.
An expectation for cyclists to dismount puts pressure on those, as others around just assume they're being twats.
(My usual solution is to continue cycling, but at walking pace. I still have idiots shouting at me, even when I'm carrying my crutch.)
"People cycling on the Bristol and Bath Railway Path will have to dismount at the junction outside Whitehall Primary School for approximately four weeks"
Best carry a tent. And book time off work.
I think it'd be better to have signs warning peds to be aware of which lane they're walking in and to be careful of other path users.
Aldridge said asking cyclists to dismount is the “safest and most convenient option”, although he recognises it could cause inconvenience for those on two wheels.
Neil Aldridge says cyclists dismounting is the safest and most convenient option and then goes on to admit it's not convenient at all. Then there is mention of a footbridge being considered further down the page which would definitely be a safer option. Can anyone else see the fallacy in Mr Aldridge's quite frankly ridiculous comments?
Wig-wags are the pairs of flashing lights you see by the side of the road near schools which flashing during the start and end of school normally paired up with the triangular children crossing sign.
His comments may be entirely consistent, your re-wording notwithstanding - the implication of the bridge comment being that it would need more money than available at present and hence not an option at this moment in time. Whether he's correct is another matter, but there's no obvious fallacy there AFAICS.
Not that convenient, but not that inconvenient either. Getting off and walking 50m or so for a 4 week period isn't exactly the end of the world to improve safety is it? Has been working well enough on the temporary Princes Street Bridge which will be a year in total of doing the same thing.
I trust that there are obstacles in place to slow down motor traffic on all the roads near Whitehall Primary...?
Agreed, I'm normally on there after 8:30 and there is no problem. I dislike the approach of putting obstacles in the way instead of opening up new channels to move through unhindered.
You might be thinking of the nearby road, which is definitely in use. As Cyclesteffer says, it's a problem mostly caused by being so busy, and really outside of peak commuting hours there's no particular problem at that place.
Edit: Okay, an edit facility is good but why is there no way of deleting your own post? [Embarrassed smiley here]
You might be thinking of the nearby road, which is definitely in use. As Cyclesteffer says, it's a problem mostly caused by being so busy, and really outside of peak commuting hours there's no particular problem at that place.
Rather than putting obstacles in peoples way make a clear path for all to use by creating a footbridge. Am I right in thinking there is one close already that is currently disused?
There appears to be the remains of a bridge over the path from the Midland Railway days in Street View.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4656783,-2.5556395,3a,20.9y,124.9h,90.79t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sd7TCbh99fyLGkjlihsxkxw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en
The location of the crossing doesn't help matters being at the bottom of a gentle gradient where it is far too easy to get a good head of speed up on.
The Bath to Bristol path is a victim of its own success. So many people using it, to commute sustainably.