The re-emergence of a series of huge cracks, some as wide as 40mm, along a two-year-old cycle path has been blamed by the council on “unexpectedly soft ground conditions”, after a local cyclist branded the cracks an accident waiting to happen.
The shared-use path, which runs alongside the A2990 Old Thanet Way between Herne Bay and Whitstable and forms part of a series of active travel improvements implemented in recent years by Kent County Council, was opened in April 2023, replacing an overgrown, impassable footpath.
However, in the six months after the path was opened to the public, continuous cracks already began to appear in its surface along a mile-long section, while the edges also significantly deteriorated and crumbled.
We reported at the time that local cyclist Sean Beaver counted 233 cracks in the path’s surface throughout that short section, claiming the splits were “getting wider by the day”. He also explained that the surface was breaking away at the edges, due to kerbs failing and “taking big chunks of asphalt with them”.
“At this rate, the new path will be unusable in the next few months,” the cyclist added. “It is really disappointing because that path is such a benefit. Originally it was just a footpath. This is a waste of taxpayers’ money.”
Following the complaints, interim works, costing £2,446, were carried out by the contractor to cover up the cracks on the £575,000 path.
The council, who claimed that the path was constructed to design standards, also said in October 2023 that it would work with the contractors to “find a more permanent solution”.
However, under two years on the same problems have re-emerged, prompting complaints from cyclists that the latest batch of cracks are big enough to swallow a front wheel.
“The council have done some repairs, but those repairs themselves are breaking up – now there are great big cracks in it,” Herne Bay resident Richard Stead, who rides along the path every week, told KentOnline.
“I ride a bike with a 40mm-wide tyre, and my front tyre will actually go into one of the cracks. If there’s a child riding along there on a bike, if they went down one of those cracks, they would literally be flipped over the handlebars.”
Responding to the complaints, Kent County Council has insisted that the constant cracking of the path’s surface is not down to poor workmanship, but is instead a result of the soil on which the infrastructure sits.
“The failure of the 600-metre section of the cycle path is due to unexpectedly soft ground conditions in that area,” a spokesperson for the council said.
“A reinforced base was installed along the entire route, but, following ground testing of this section, it was found that the issue is due to its underlying soil composition, making the ground very soft.
“We are now reviewing options to strengthen this part of the path further to ensure long-term durability.”
The council also said it is waiting on quotes for a “thorough” repair job, but that in the meantime it will focus on yet another temporary fix to cover the widest cracks.
However, Stead argued that if the works are not carried out soon, the path’s problems will only continue to grow as we approach the winter.
“I’m worried the council will not get around to it for months and then they’ll say we can’t do the repairs because of the winter weather, so then will we have to wait another year?” the 59-year-old said.
“If this goes on until winter and water gets into the cracks and freezes, that’s going to make them even worse.”
-1024x680.jpg "“Clear anti-cyclist bias”: Lawsuit filed against Toronto police after cop doored cyclist… before ticketing rider over incident")
6 thoughts on ““A child would be literally flipped over the handlebars”: Huge cracks reappear in troublesome bike path – but council says “failure” due to unexpectedly soft soil”
Typical council cutting
Typical council cutting corners without conducting a proper ground test or analysis to see if the former footpath could support the weight for the shared of the cycle and footpath surface, could’ve saved money doing that one small thing tbf. Where I’m located there’s zero infrastructure for cycling so pot holes and cracks are repaired when the council remember, that being said I don’t think half arsed tarmac “patch” counts as a repair.
Yep, it rather looks like it
Yep, it rather looks like it was done on the cheap without a proper ground investigation first. Compacting the base material efficiently and then laying a geotextile grid down before the asphalt paving stage wouldn’t have added much more to the cost but would’ve avoided this sort of early failure.
In our case, here in
In our case, here in Warminster, they got a government grant of £65,000 to upgrade a muddy track from the housing estate road to the Industrial estate, about 1/4 mile long, with lighting and 2 metres wide tarmac. Then, the first and only time the Wiltshire council trimmed back the briers and nettles etc, they used a 5-ton tractor that started the cracks in some part of the very smooth path, called Glovers Lane.
All the design work is done
All the design work is done for nothing heavier than cyclists, never taking into account service vehicles. At the start on ncn5, the horseshoe bridge, the Thames is liable to flood there, and lots of roots, but the transits they drive down there for maintenance takes proper chunks out. On the bit of the Basingstoke canal I ride, it’s the escort sized vans that the authority uses to escort people down the lock flight and for works, eat up the edges, causing muddy puddles and pot holes. On the bits inaccessible to large motors it remains as flat as it’s going to get. Though they do seem to have moved into resurfacing with an aggregate that retains some of the lumps created while building that never seem to flatten with us lightweight users.
Hmm… maybe we need to go
Hmm… maybe we need to go back to more “hoggin” (per Ranty Highwayman)!
NCN maintenance is a whole ‘nother problem I think – given that much (all) was originally built essentially as “rescue infra” by a charity using volunteer labour?
The problem seems to be that while local authorities generally do have some smaller / lighter vehicles for maintenance / some works I guess because “roads everywhere” it’s just inevitable that heavier/bigger plant gets used. Most vehicles are on the heavier end I’d guess (fewer “Kei trucks” in the UK)? Then there always seems to be “but we need(?) to send a truck / tank down there” – or some private individual takes it into their head to do so…
And of course decades of vehicle size / weight inflation.
I think other things work against this – e.g. outsourcing where councils don’t allocate much staff time to “marking the homework” in detail. (See “squeezed council budgets” and “we should have much less done by lazy, wasteful government staff and more by efficient private companies” ideologies).
Well apparently we’re already
Well apparently we’re already always hoggin’ the roads, so why not the bike paths too?