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Cardiff launches ten-year plan to boost cyclingCardiff - Wales Millenium Centre - image via gordonplant on Flickr (2).jpg

Cardiff launches ten-year plan to boost cycling

The plan is to double the number of cycle trips by 2026 by giving cyclists & pedestrians greater protection, lowering speed limits & improving cycle routes
by Elliot Johnston
Sun, Dec 04, 2016 20:36
7

Cardiff's Cycling Strategy, a ten-year plan to improve the city's "fragmented and incomplete" cycling infrastructure has been revealed in draft form as public consultation continues.

The plan focuses primarily on improving the city's infrastructure, alongside work with key partners including schools, workplaces and retailers, which the committee will work with to provide facilities as well as the tools to promote cycling in the city.

The full 39-page document can be found by following this link, while welsh news website WalesOnline has provided map recreations of key areas of interest for the proposals.

>Read more: Cardiff cyclist triggers speed camera (video)

Of the changes outlined in the plan the key areas include the following:

  • Cycle lane segregation on main roads

  • Traffic calming measures and a 20mph limit on streets with lower volumes of traffic

  • Bike lanes protected by parking places

  • Cyclist-pedestrian segregation on off-road pathways

  • Improved lighting and surface on cycle lanes and pathways across the city

  • More direct routes to destinations including schools, workplaces and high-density residential areas

  • Improved volume of cycle parking and bike racks in key locations

Primary infrastructure development appears to be the strategy's priority. The proposal lists development of two north-to-south primary cycling route corridors, that will be safely accessible to all ages and cycling abilities, as its first point in the action plan.

The plan goes on to outline developing the city's further cycling network; the location of missing links in current system, and development to fix those; and the establishment of a ring-fenced budget for cycle route maintenance.

The plan also prioritises the launch of an on-street cycle hire scheme in 2017/18.

>Read more: Cardiff seeks to resurrect cycle hire flop

All of these developmental goals will include consultation with the three key partners the proposal has noted throughout: schools, workplaces, and retailers.

Public consultation on the draft plan is set to end on March 27 2017, and the review of its findings will be undertaken between April and May.

Council approval and publication of the final Cardiff Cycle Strategy is set for July.

 

 

Cardiff
cycling infrastructure

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7 comments

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earth | 8 years ago
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Having visited Cardiff and hired a bike to get around I think Cardiff has very good qualities regardless of cycling facilities are planned.  Namely good roads with less traffic and clean air. 

Avatar
bendertherobot replied to earth | 8 years ago
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earth wrote:

Having visited Cardiff and hired a bike to get around I think Cardiff has very good qualities regardless of cycling facilities are planned.  Namely good roads with less traffic and clean air. 

 

You need to visit more often. Honest to God it's terrible. But the potential is huge. Take the recent car free day, we closed one street, a 400m stretch. Days later, for Roald Dahl day, we closed an entire city centre............

Avatar
Rich_cb replied to bendertherobot | 8 years ago
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bendertherobot wrote:

earth wrote:

Having visited Cardiff and hired a bike to get around I think Cardiff has very good qualities regardless of cycling facilities are planned.  Namely good roads with less traffic and clean air. 

 

You need to visit more often. Honest to God it's terrible. But the potential is huge. Take the recent car free day, we closed one street, a 400m stretch. Days later, for Roald Dahl day, we closed an entire city centre............

It's really not that bad!

You've got the taff trail which connects the valleys to the bay and everything in between.

You've also got Bute park/Pontcanna fields etc which connect the whole city centre together.

It could be a lot worse!

Avatar
bendertherobot replied to Rich_cb | 8 years ago
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Rich_cb wrote:
bendertherobot wrote:

earth wrote:

Having visited Cardiff and hired a bike to get around I think Cardiff has very good qualities regardless of cycling facilities are planned.  Namely good roads with less traffic and clean air. 

 

You need to visit more often. Honest to God it's terrible. But the potential is huge. Take the recent car free day, we closed one street, a 400m stretch. Days later, for Roald Dahl day, we closed an entire city centre............

It's really not that bad! You've got the taff trail which connects the valleys to the bay and everything in between. You've also got Bute park/Pontcanna fields etc which connect the whole city centre together. It could be a lot worse!

Yes. We have that active travel shared route which is chock full of mindless peds, dog walkers and has been buried underneath a leaf carpet for 2 1/2 months so that you can't actually see it. It should be a jewel but it's a waste. And the criminal part is that the LA rely on the Taff Trail to fulfil their functions and neglect it and everything else. Hopefully all of the above is a change. But unless someone actually cleans cycle path provision then we're left with crap again. 

The worst part is that the Taff Trail is, arguably, the only legal method of entering North Cardiff because of the traffic restriction order on the A470/M4 roundabout. Or you can take the complicated bridge, underpass, trolley and glass strewn Asda route. 

Avatar
burtthebike | 8 years ago
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I wonder if this will include putting in proper cycle parking in the bay area instead of the godawful twisted hairgrip disasters that no-one ever uses?

Avatar
bendertherobot | 8 years ago
1 like

The devil's in the detail. Doubling it is great, if you start from a good base which, arguably, Cardiff still does not have. 

But there's some interesting stuff in the detail, particularly the new build sites because, if I'm reading it right, when they are added I get a brand new off road, wholly segregated cycle path for 5 miles of my route. Add that to the last 4 miles which is already segregated and over half my commute will be traffic free. 

Let's see if it's actually built as, looking at where the route is, there's a lot of permissions to be sought and land to be purchased.

The one irritation with the plans is that they're not awfull clear. An overlay on a google map would make things all the  more clear.

Avatar
Rich_cb | 8 years ago
5 likes

Cardiff has a lot of potential to be a great cycling city.

It's mostly flat with a lot of parks right in the centre and a pre existing link to the valleys.

I'm hoping they make a success of this.

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