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Campaign launched to replace landmark cycling and walking bridge in Peterborough

News that Cambridgeshire city’s Rhubarb Bridge faces chop and council plans to use crossings instead sparks safety fears

 

A campaign has been launched to save an iconic cycling and walking bridge in Peterborough after it emerged that the council plans to scrap it, sparking fears over the safety of people on foot and on bikes.

Almost 5,000 people have so far signed a petition to save the Rhubarb Bridge, which provides a safe passage across the junction of the A47 and A15 in the Cambridgeshire city.

The bridge was built in the 1970s and took its name from an earlier one over the railway lines that formerly occupied the site and where rhubarb grew on the embankments.

Under proposals unveiled last week by Peterborough City Council (PCC) plans to demolish the bridge and replace it with a set of Toucan crossings, with cabinet member Councillor Peter Hiller insisting the structure is at “the end of its life.”

He said £30 million would be needed to replace the bridge, compared to £5.5 million for the proposed works at the junction.

One of the people behind the petition which is calling for a replacement bridge to be built, Trevor McSparron, told road.cc: “PCC have quoted inflated costs and also have merged the costs to replace the bridge and build wider slip roads and widen other sections of the road.

“The bridge we believe will cost less than £5 million to demolish and replace when you look at other bridges built around the country.

“Copenhagen and many Dutch towns and cities would be proud of Rhubarb Bridge, it's just fantastic and has served Peterborough for a long time protecting its users from conflict with vehicles and reduced pollution,” he added.

“It was and still is decades ahead of its time when Peterborough was developed in the 70s and 80s and miles of safe segregated paths and bridges were built all over the city.”

The petition sets out four reasons its authors believe should lead to the current proposals being rejected. as follows:

Four separate crossings for pedestrians and cyclists to pass through the roundabout is unacceptable.

The design will create significant wait times for pedestrians and cyclists.

The design increases the likelihood of pedestrians and cyclists coming into conflict with vehicles.

By moving pedestrians and cyclists to ground level there is a considerable increase in exposure to pollution and poor air quality (especially for pupils who use this roundabout twice per day).

It calls on Peterborough City Council to:

Peterborough city council should:

Halt the current plans.

Instigate a full review into previous decision making - who made the decision that the city should not pursue a new bridge, and who accepted the quotes for a new bridge.

Approach other companies to get a second opinion on the cost of a replacement bridge (with detailed costings, not a guess).

Implement a fundraising strategy to acquire the necessary funding to install a new and improved pedestrian and cycle bridge.

Matthew Barber, head of partnerships (Midlands and East) at the charity Sustrans told the Peterborough Telegraph last week that he believed that the current proposals would lead to pedestrians and cyclists taking unnecessary risks to cross the road.

“Rhubarb Bridge is a gateway to the north of the city,” he said. “But going from Marks & Spencer in Brotherhoods to PC World on the other side will now involve four pedestrian crosses.

“If there are many delays then people, especially children, will try and find gaps in the traffic.

“It’s children I’m most concerned about,” he added. “If they are rushing to school and the waiting times are too long they will try and find the gaps.”

Now, three opposition councillors have signed a call-in notice to force the council to reconsider its proposals, according to the newspaper.

The call-in notice says: “The public is effectively being informed what has already been decided, rather than being consulted on it.

“This impression is made all the more obvious by the fact that Cllr Hiller signed the decision notice to award the contract and implement the scheme before the main public consultation drop in event had been held.

“So there is no possibility that views expressed by the public at this event have been taken into account in making the decision.

“There is no evidence of what other options were considered or any detail of their costings,” it adds.

The call-in will be now considered by a council scrutiny committee on Tuesday 29 August.

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.

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9 comments

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1961BikiE | 6 years ago
0 likes

Cheers KitKat. Looks like an excellent representative of his constituents. #fwit

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1961BikiE | 6 years ago
1 like

It's funny how priority is given to keeping traffic moving. I took my motorcycle and car tests in the 80's. On both I was criticized for caution at junctions that could "hold up other traffic" (I did pass both 1st time though). Little consideration is given to holding up pedestrians and cyclists. "They" seem to forget that at some point in a journey everyone will be a pedestrian.

And to take the side of the motorised vehicle users briefly, surely 4 new pedestrian controlled crossings is going to cause delays to traffic. So the bridge, as well as being healthier and safer for the most vulnerable road users, is also to the benefit of traffic flow through the junction.

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jollygoodvelo | 6 years ago
3 likes

Just not good enough, is it.  We could build bridges and cycle paths in the 60s and 70s when there were far fewer cars on the roads.  Now we can't?  Rubbish.

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P3t3 | 6 years ago
1 like

What is it with abandining intersection grade separation in this country?  I guess its most likely cost saving but maybe the engineers are being taught not to grade separate intersections/juntions in training.  Everywhere junctions are getting bigger and more complex as they seem to do anything they can to avoid the logical move of grade separation.  Its leading to hoplessly complex junctions that take ages to negotiate.  

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kitkat | 6 years ago
0 likes

Quote:

This impression is made all the more obvious by the fact that Cllr Hiller signed the decision notice to award the contract and implement the scheme before the main public consultation drop in event had been held

Looks like Councillor Hiller is a man of admirable qualities that respects the people he serves and is a role model to others

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/crime/council-cabinet-member-con...

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Accessibility f... | 6 years ago
12 likes

If it were a road bridge, for motorists, you can bet the money would be found no problem.

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Leviathan | 6 years ago
6 likes

Rhubarb bridge faces the chop? I hope they fix or replace it before it crumbles.

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WillRod | 6 years ago
3 likes

Peterboroughs roads are a mess for drivers, and removing the bridge and shoving in pedestrian and cyclist crossings is just going to be bad all round. 

Making pedestrians and cyclists cross those roads is just going to be madness!

Avatar
Metaphor | 6 years ago
6 likes

I see Peterborough City Council are expanding their war on the cyclist.

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