Why don’t cyclists use the cycle lane? Because it was built directly into the path of a zebra crossing pole, apparently.

That’s the bizarre situation facing cyclists in Salisbury, anyway, after a new cycleway was completed earlier this week, only for baffled locals to learn that it leads them straight towards the existing pole – forcing construction workers to place cones around the potential obstacle and cycling campaigners to criticise the local council’s “poor planning”.

However, the company behind the project said the pole is set to be moved soon, while the council notes that the zebra crossing will be widened to allow cyclists to continuously ride along the path and cross the road without being legally required to dismount.

The new cycleway, zebra-striped obstacles and all, forms part of Wiltshire Council’s Salisbury River Park Project, a collaborative project with the Environment Agency to deliver essential flood alleviation and major environmental improvements through the central riverside spine of the historic city.

Alongside plans to alleviate flood concerns and create new wildlife habitat, the scheme aims to install 650m of new and improved cycle routes and 1,600m of new and improved footpaths. The council says this active travel infrastructure will “encourage a modal shift towards sustainable travel modes such as walking and cycling” and “provide carbon reduction and air quality benefits”.

However, the layout of the cycleway near Ashley Road, and the pre-existing zebra crossing pole stationed at the very end of the path, has left many cyclists unconvinced that the infrastructure will be delivered to sufficient enough quality to fully encourage this much-touted modal shift in Salisbury.

“This is going to be a main route for cyclists to get to Salisbury,” cycling campaigner Dr Jimmy Walker, a member of the Cycling Opportunities Group for Salisbury, told the Salisbury Journal.

“A fantastic route, and you can’t take this away from them, but this just seems to be very poor planning.

“Wiltshire Council would never leave a pole in the middle of the road, so why is it acceptable to do so on the updated main trunk cycleway along the new Avon Valley cycleway?”

While Walker noted that the bizarre layout may not represent the finished article when it comes to the active travel aspect of the River Park project, he nevertheless pointed out that the similar placement of a bollard blocking a cycleway near Amesbury in 2021 took an electricity company months to remove the obstacle.

“It isn’t good for people who want to use that route feasibly. It just doesn’t look good in the public eye,” he continued.

“They need to get cycling infrastructure correct and fit for purpose and that is certainly not fit for purpose.”

> Why don’t cyclists use cycle lanes?

However, Kier, the construction company contracted by the Environment Agency to complete the scheme, wrote in its May newsletter that the pole will be removed at some stage from the end of the cycleway.

“Work is still required at either end of the path including moving the lighting columns on Ashley Road,” the company said.

Responding to the criticisms, councillor Tamara Reay, Wiltshire’s cabinet member for transport, said: “We are committed to promoting more walking and cycling in our Business Plan and making travel by foot or bike easier, in order to improve air quality, reduce traffic congestion, and cut carbon emissions.

“As part of the Salisbury River Park project, further work is planned to widen and upgrade this crossing to allow cyclists to more easily cross Ashley Road and travel along the Avon Valley shared use path without being legally required to dismount at the zebra crossing.

“The consultation for these works has now closed without any objections so we are now in the process of programming these works.”