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Exeter Cathedral (licensed CC BY SA 2.0 on Flickr by David Sivyer).jpgDevon County Council set to green-light Exeter's first protected cycle lane
Devon County Council’s cabinet is expected to give the go-ahead next week to Exeter’s first protected cycle lane.
Running for almost a kilometre from Pinhoe into the city centre along Pinhoe Road and Cumberland Way, a 50-centimetre kerb would separate cyclists from motor vehicles.
The scheme will cost £1.7 million and was approved in principle by the cabinet in June last year.
In a report published on the county council’s website ahead of a meeting next Wednesday, its head of planning, transportation and environment has recommended the cabinet to formally adopt the scheme.
According to the 2011 Census, 6 per cent of the city’s residents use a bike as their main mode of transport to and from work, well above the national average.
The county council wants to double that to 12 per cent by 2021, with this route – the first of several proposed to provide links between where Exeter residents live and their workplaces – a key part of that strategy.
“Exeter is building a good reputation for cycling, which is increasingly seen as an attractive leisure activity and a viable alternative to car travel,” the report said.
“High quality routes which provide links between growing residential areas and new and existing employment sites will help to meet this target, and allow better access to the city centre for employment, retail, improved access to education, and encourage more leisure trips,” it added.
The proposed two-way route would be between 2.5 and 3 metres in width, with a wide footway for pedestrians running alongside although space will be shared between people on bikes and on foot for certain short sections.
Other than at Pilton Way, which the council says may be closed to through motor traffic at some point in the future, pedestrians and cyclists will have priority at all side roads.
The separated path will also link to existing and proposed shared-use paths at each end as well as at various points in between.
Work is anticipated to start next month, with the project expected to take up to nine months to complete.
Caspar Hughes, who lives in the city and is a member of the organising group of campaigners Stop Killing Cyclists, told road.cc: “It’s wonderful to see another UK city planning to build a network of protected cycle lanes.
“This is a proven way to reduce congestion, pollution and will make Exeter a more attractive city to visit and live in,” he added.
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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15 comments
£1.7million for less than a kilometre.
What.
The cost in London is between £2-4million per mile, it's comparative.
About time.
I just hope it's not like the segregated bike lane along Baldwin Street in Bristol, which is essentially just an extension to the pavement and is full of pedestrians. It also crosses several side streets.
Wow, there's a bike lane in Baldwin Sreet? They hid that well! Though I only go along it on occaisional Sunday mornings so maybe it's easier to spot in the week when it's full of pedestrians?!
Yup: even though it is tarmacced like a road and has a centre line and painted bicycle symbols on it, most pedestrians along there just seem to think that the council decided to widen the footpath. It's very frustrating.
As an Exeter resident, and regular user of this stretch of road, I'm strongly in favour of this move and can't quite undertsand the negativity of some of the comments. Yes, a lot of the cycle infrastructure that's gone before in Exeter hasn't been great, but to me this is a sign of things changing for the better. The Exeter Cycling Campaign have been doing great work in engaging with the councils (Exeter City and Devon County) and I understand they've seen these proposals and had a chance to give their input on the design, so hopefulIy this will be start of a step change in quality. If you do cycle in Exeter, instead of being negative on the internet, I'd recommend getting involved with the campaign (http://exetercyclingcampaign.org.uk/ or on Facebook) as they're looking for people with local knowledge of the areas of the city that would benefit most from improved cycling infrastructure, and ideas for how that can be done.
I believe part of the intention with this road is to narrow the main carriageway as a means of reducing traffic speed, in light of the fact there is more residential development under construction or planned in that area of the city. The ire at ECC is misdirected - it's Devon County who are responsible for roads.
There's an element of "picking the low hanging fruit" about choosing this stretch of road for the first properly segregated route in Exeter, as it's wide enough to allow its construction without major upheaval. That also means it won't give the biggest improvement over the existing road but, on the plus side it is a very well used stretch of road (one of the main routes into the city from the motorway) and will help with getting people used to the idea of segregated cycle lanes before they tackle much trickier stretches of road such as Union Road towards the University that this will eventually lead into. You may be happy to use the road as it is currently but a lot of people aren't. This will help encourage more people to cycle, which gives them an alternative to adding to the traffic that's choking the city.
As for getting grief for not using the lane, might I suggest waiting until it's built before making a judgement on whether you're going to use it? Or, are you so ideologically opposed to cycle lanes that you refuse to use any of them? Would you cycle on the road in Copenhagen?
In Copenhagen the cycle lanes are fit for purpose - not ridiculously narrow with raised kerbs on either side, and are kept clear of debris - which means they are used, which means you don't get random pedestrians meandering about in them - by contrast, the English design makes a perfect channel for collecting broken glass and are designed (at extra expense) so you cannot swerve outside them to avoid the various forms of detritus, almost as if they were designed by someone with no idea what they're doing, too stupid to look at successfully implemented cycle lanes in other countries and simply copy their design!
The article says the lane is going to be 2.5 - 3m in width. I saw plenty in Copenhagen that were narrower than that. It's the first segregated lane they're building in Exeter, so I don't think it's fair to prejudge it based on what's been built before.
I think there's wide agreement that to see the step change in numbers of people cycling that we need for so many reasons, we need many more segregated cycle lanes. This is the first such scheme here in Exeter. They might not get everything right first time, but hopefully it'll be a good start, and one that can be built on across the city, with constructive feedback from this scheme.
If we go into it with the attitude that it'll be crap becuase no-one in this country knows how to design a bike lane, so they might as well not bother, we're never going to get anywhere.
The design spec I saw was for a 3m lane going both ways - in Copenhagen the narrower lanes are generally unidirectional giving more than 1.5 metres width in each direction.
Not what I meant at all - I have no doubt that there are many people who could design a decent bike lane in the UK, however the designs seem to be miniaturised versions of roads designed for motor vehicles contracted to the same companies that build and maintain them - no surprises then for guessing how the tender for such contracts is secured.
Never been to Copenhagen, can't comment.
But yeah, I'm not a big fan of bike paths... well of segregation in general, but I accept that they definitely have an important role in facilitating cycling for the masses. However, without meaning to come across as a dick, I do not belong on a bike path... generally when I'm riding, I'm training and in doing so travelling faster than I believe is appropriate for cycle lanes.
Therefore I leave them alone, which means I'll either take the increased amount of shit from car drivers when using this road moving forward, or I'll take a different route across town.
Touch wood it will help increase cycling numbers, so worth the inconvenience.
Man I'm cynical and negative these days. On reading this news my initial thought was around the increased bitterness this will cause towards cyclists from other road users. In a city with a disasterous road netowrk, people are going to be chuffed with additional road works and more road handed over to cyclists.
From my perspective, that piiece of road is fine for riding as it is, and I can't see how cyclists will currently be holding up traffic.
On a personal level, I also rue the additional grief I will now inevitably recieve for not using that cyclepath when complete.
But... the council have to get more people on bikes, there is no other choice. There is nothing more that can be done about the road infrastructure without knocking down houses, so it has to be all about getting people out of their cars.
Agree with Singlespeed. Having spent ages in traffic on that route, increasing traffic speed is probably the primary motive behind this. It is a cramped piece of highway with an existing bus lane aswell so there will probably be an element of "robbing Peter to pay Paul" to enable everything to fit in. We also need to be aware that when Exeter was a cycling city they made a great fanfare about creating tens of kilometers of cycle paths when, in reality, all they did was paint white lines along the pavements and create "shared user paths" for cyclists and pedestrians. This is present on part of the proposed route. Great in theory but not practical in reality.
However, we should not be too harsh on Exeter City Council. They are ahead of many other councils in that they acknowledge cycling as a real and viable component of transport around the city and are making efforts to get an integrated transport system. The proof of the plan will be in the final finished cycle paths. What we need now are the other aspects that contribute to make bicycles a urban vehicle of choice, ie: decent secure storage, showers at employers and priority at junctions on the route.
"This is a proven way to reduce congestion, pollution"
Maybe I'm paranoid, but my guess is that most drivers will interpret this as
"cyclists in the road cause congestion and pollution".
"almost a whole kilometre" for 1.7 million, that's almost 2k a metre - will it be lined with saffron?
Knowing that route it's more likely they want to increase the traffic speed into the city rather than make it nicer for cyclists.
Exeter City council seem to be one hell bent on getting motorists in and around the city at maximum speeds with gay abanon for pedestrians and cyclists.