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Razor sharp Twin Sails Bridge barriers - image via Lets Go Out Bournemouth on Flickr (2).jpgCycle safety concerns over landmark Poole bridge ignored, says councillor
Three cyclists are reportedly suing Poole Borough Council due to injuries sustained while riding across the Dorset town’s landmark Twin Sails bridge, with one local councillor saying that safety concerns he raised before it was built were ignored.
Opened in April 2012, the £37 million bridge’s signature feature is the two halves that raise to let maritime traffic through and which give the structure its name.
However, the Dorset Echo reports that there have been a series of incidents on the bridge, and that three riders injured there have initiated proceedings against the council.
Another cyclist, 72-year-old Andrew Gay, said the bridge was “not fit for purpose” after he needed 40 stitches in his arm when it was cut by on one of the sculptured barriers that are another distinctive element of the bridge’s design.
> Cyclist's arm "ripped apart" by "razor sharp" Poole bridge
Councillor Andy Hadley, who represents the Poole People party on the Conservative controlled council, outlined what he believes are some of the bridge’s defects to the Daily Echo.
"The cycleway is about 2cm higher than the carriageway, so there is a poorly visible kerb lip between them,” he explained.
"There are also frequent raised cats' eyes, slippery when wet. This design presents a slippy, hazardous and ill-defined barriers.”
In August, after he read of Mr Gay’s injuries, 66-year-old Bryan Archer contacted the newspaper and said he had broken two ribs in a similar crash.
Neither rider is among those suing the council, but they both said the design of the bridge was to blame, due to ridges on the surface.
Councillor Hadley, who belongs to the Poole Cycle Liaison Advisory Group said he had expressed reservations about the safety of cyclists on the bridge during the consultation phase of the project.
"I read with concern the recent articles about various incidents to people on bikes using the Twin Sails bridge,” he said.
"From when the bridge was first mooted, and throughout the planning, I responded to the various consultation events, attempting to get the council to make proper dedicated and segregated provision for cycles.
"As a result of my efforts, I was promised that the cycle links would be wider than originally intended, but placing the cycleway away from the roadway, or properly separated was rejected,” he added.
"As I understand this was both so that the cycleways could be reassigned to cars during maintenance, and because it would spoil the apparently award winning low-mounted lighting scheme."
The Daily Echo said that Dorset Borough Council had not responded to a request for a comment.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- NotNigel 7 min 51 sec ago
Where are people getting this needing re-patching in a few years from? It's usually broken up and in bits within a few weeks round our end?
- chrisonabike 11 min 14 sec ago
Definitely pet-specific. A friend bought a child trailer to take their dog with them to work etc. Dog was interested but was young and very...
- NeilBedwin 13 min 59 sec ago
As it's often said -'the way to justify the building of a bridge is not too count the number of people swimming the crocodile infested river!'
- perce 22 min 21 sec ago
Agreed on all counts. And it's the tacit assumption that as it's only a cycle lane it doesn't really matter anyway.
- OldRidgeback 23 min 13 sec ago
I used to go that way to work. It's nasty and congested. I doubt any changes will make the congestion worse.
- Jamie Williams 51 min 15 sec ago
Both bikes are both 1x
- David9694 1 hour 28 min ago
Cambridgeshire villagers say parking problem is 'ridiculous' as buses squeeze past cars...
- mallardz 1 hour 54 min ago
But who's going to lend them their Pinarello?!
- chrisonabike 2 hours 38 min ago
Maybe Simoninspalding can reassure them - being in a Holland is OK....
Add new comment
8 comments
Perhaps Christo could come and wrap it up?
Public art and a safer route!
For those with access, the original report inspired me to write an article for Local Transport Today https://www.transportxtra.com/publications/local-transport-today/news/50...
Basically, I suggest that many of the recently built pedestrian/cyclist bridges are not fit for purpose, and provide four examples, including the Twin Sails bridge.
I suspect a lot of this comes down to councils wanting a shiny landmark bridge and using cycle funding money so they can achieve it, no matter what. Pero's Bridge and the so-called Cheesegrater Bridge in Bristol are other examples.
Just two of the other examples I used, the other being Valentines Bridge, which got an award from Sustrans despite the cyclists dismount signs.
I'm not sure it's the councils, I think it's just that the designers have no idea about function. All they had to do was hire a Dutch cycling engineer, and they'd have had a bridge which worked and looked good. Our engineers and designers lack knowledge and experience, and quite definitely have no intention of learning.
In the interests of full disclosure I've never ridden over the Cheesegrater, just read the media coverage.
However, I use Pero's pretty much every day. Its narrow, and packed with pedestrians. It's marked as shared use, and there are no dismount signs.
I had a debate with my wife at the weekend, grumbling about it. She said that I should just get off and push; I said if I'm expected to do that then it shouldn't be signposted as part of a cycle route; she said it can't be that busy all day; I said probably not, only during commuting times morning and evening, and over the weekend... Our little chat went a bit downhill after that.
Pero's bridge was the first modern era bridge over the docks in Bristol, and as you say, it is narrow. When it was designed, they ignored the fact that it was on a council defined strategic cycle route, and the planning committee weren't made aware of this. When it was built, it had cyclists dismount signs. I took them to the Ombudsman and won and the signs came down, but the lessons were not learned, with subsequent bridges, Valentines and the cheesegrater, having significant, easily avoidable problems. But probably the biggest problem is the failure of safety audits to pick up what seem to me to be blatantly obvious hazards.
It will be interesting to see the responses in LTT from the designers, if indeed they do respond.
Reading has a similar one, it has a right-angle bend in it and feneces so high the visibility is poor as well as an artificial narrowing at either end and finally... a roundabout for padestrians! They could have just built it in the right place.
Having walked over the new bridge in Reading after the beer festival I couldn't help but notice that it's really not designed for bikes!