This week we saw Giant-Alpecin rider Warren Barguil dodge a chicane made of cows on stage 11 of the Tour de France, but elsewhere regular cyclists are expected to do the same every day on routes supposedly designed for bikes.
Those wanting to use a new cycle link on a new housing estate in Waverley, near Rotherham, will have to cross a main road without drop kerbs, before being blocked by a kissing gate.
In Hackney on a popular cycle route between the canal and park, reportedly used by families with cargo bikes, a chicane appeared last week because "a small minority" of cyclists were cycling at speed along the pavement.
Installed in Victoria Park today at what (was) a well used entrance for families on cargo bikes coming from the canal pic.twitter.com/RHRMVcRLzL
— Hackney Cyclist (@Hackneycyclist) July 13, 2015
The chicane was installed at the St Marks Gate entrance to Victoria Park, according to one local councillor, because "a small minority" of cyclists were using the pavement.
.@CllrJoshuaPeck please don't ban these people from using the Victoria Park playground pic.twitter.com/VbwzDipzi2
— Hackney Cyclist (@Hackneycyclist) July 14, 2015
Frustrated by the move, local cyclists have suggested alternatives, one of which could include opening the park's massive gates for cyclists, rather than forcing riders onto the pavement with pedestrians.

Meanwhile, cyclist Matt Turner expressed dismay at the cycling provision on a new housing estate in Waverley, near Rotherham, including a kissing gate with a 2ft gap you can't get a bike through. He called it 'incredibly depressing' that even with a blank slate – the entire town is brand new – the UK is making the same mistakes of the past 40 years.
@psyklyn What do you reckon? New cycle route… pic.twitter.com/xmgqceh8Tg
— Matt Turner (@MattTurnerSheff) July 19, 2015
Without drop kerbs, riders unable to bunny hop will have to stop while crossing the main road and lift their bikes onto the pavement.
@RantyHighwayman probably also missed the lack of dropped kerb on other sied of road… Shambles! @psyklyn pic.twitter.com/ilYTlwa2qC
— Matt Turner (@MattTurnerSheff) July 19, 2015
@MattTurnerSheff @RantyHighwayman Full marks to the UK engineering profession for making cycle facilities hard to use
— paul gannon (@paulgannonbike) July 19, 2015
Turner, who lives in nearby Sheffield, told road.cc he went to see if people could live in the new town without a car. A new cycle route runs from Sheffield to Waverley, paid for by the council, but when the route gets to the housing estate a kissing gate blocks cycles from entering.
He said: "I found it incredibly depressing – we are just making the same mistakes we have been making for the last 40 years."
"On the developer's side of Waverley it is a gravelly track and then you get to the 40mph trunk road and then you are expected to dismount or rejoin the carriageway. No-one is going to do that – they are going to drive".
"It is unbelievable that we are still designing neighbourhoods like this when we have got blank slates. It seems to be that what we are doing at the moment on new estates is putting cycling in pedestrian environments without realising the bigger benefits of unravelling the routes – rather than putting the cycle track and foot path in the most direct route we have trunk roads."
The CTC's Sam Jones told road.cc this week the UK needs design standards to "rule out the conflict that you get between vulnerable road users".
"We need national design standards, rather than having every council coming up with their own design standards, the only people who are benefiting from that are the consultants, it is not cyclists," said Jones.
Here's a tricky one in Manchester – courtesy of the Mad Cycle Lanes of Manchester blog.
Poorly thought out chicanes appearing on your patch? Share your rubbish cycle infrastructure in the comments section, below.
And here's the cow video, in case you missed it.

40 thoughts on “Chicanes on bike lanes – why are we still building this rubbish? ask frustrated campaigners”
this bollard
this bollard nest:
this nasty chicane on a shared use path…
NCN41 I can’t get through here with my trailer…
NCN41… anyone without full agility and a mountain bike can just forget using it… there’s a gate and chicane right at the top and a nasty slope with sharp turn at the bottom.
We have some gems on South
We have some gems on South Tyneside which are fairly recent (couple of years or so).
We have what looks like something for herding cattle on a Toucan. very difficult to navigate on a conventional bike as it’s tight https://goo.gl/maps/XHquh
We have the usual chicane on a path, but with open space either side which is bonkers https://goo.gl/maps/CrL2k
But the prize for the most useless bit of ‘infra’ I know goes to this splodge of green paint, presumably the intention is to get cyclists to go onto the pavement and then across the road. https://goo.gl/maps/PtjyP
Some more here, but most is quite old to be fair. http://cyclingsouthtyne.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/bollocks-infra-south-tyneside-style.html
gazza_d wrote:
But the prize
So not only do you need to shimmy left from the road to the pavement. But in this case they have made it harder by having the kerb turning away from you at the same time. Where they expect movement from road to pavement they need to make the pavement wider so cyclists cross a dropped kerd perpendicular to line of travel.
I don’t know about Hackney or
I don’t know about Hackney or Manchester but near where I live in Liverpool, some public spaces with nice shared-use paths are plagued by young scallywags on scrambler motorbikes. The non-cycling users and neighbours find it very distressing and so the council install heavy-duty barriers which sometimes help a bit. In those circumstances, I accept the need to dismount or even lift my bike over.
bikeclips wrote:I don’t know
Every city (or otherwise) has an element of that, but not everyone is fit/able to lift their bike over such obstacles – in particular, those that ride trikes (recumbent or otherwise) due to physical issues may well find it impossible.
Best solution ? – I honestly don’t know, but penalising legitimate users doesn’t seem to be the way to go.
As it is, I’d have to lift a 40lb-odd (19+kg) of touring recumbent over many of the obstacles around…just as well I’m able to…
JonD wrote:bikeclips wrote:I
So if a road is signed no hgvs but hgvs use it anyway, do the put in bollards to stop all motor vehicles? No this is effectively what they do to cycle paths all the time.
bikeclips wrote:some public
The problem is that not everyone can lift their bike over. These things make bike paths inaccessible to the less abled (I’m surprised thats even legal in this day and age) or people with heavier loads.
I certainly remember touring in the UK with a trailer and frequently finding I need to disconnect it and lift it over barriers. Once, luckily whilst I was in a group, we found a barrier so high (and that you couldn’t pass underneath) that we needed one person on either side and one on the top to manhandle the bikes over. Luckily we were on holiday, young and fit, and up for a bit of an adventure but I wouldn’t commute on these paths. God knows what happens to disabled cyclists, people with kids, kids themselves, people on tandems or those with cargo bikes. But then I guess most bike infrastructure is designed for kids under 16. I recall the bike stands outside the library in Putney (or somewhere near there) that were so close to the wall you couldn’t park an adult bike.
On the topic of motor bikes using bike paths – if they are causing a real problem then you just have to get the police involved. Police enter the bike path from both ends, and trap the motor cyclists in the middle. IIUC UK law allows the motorbikes to be seized in these circumstances (I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong – maybe it needs a bylaw). Repeat a few times and either the “scallywags” get the message or they run out of motor bikes. There was a report a few years ago about this having been successful somewhere up north. Interesting to hear if they needed to repeat it and if so how often.
cqexbesd wrote:On the topic
I tried complaining about motorcycles on the cycle path over the Avon, alongside the M5 motorway. Police wouldn’t touch it unless I could give them registration numbers. And that isn’t teenagers on scooters but fat dockers on Harleys
brooksby wrote:I tried
The Avonmouth M5 Road Bridge lane? Isn’t that a cycle/ped/motorbike lane? Always used to be.
morseykayak wrote:brooksby
Sort of… it’s a cycle/pedestrian shared use path + mopeds, motocycles under 50cc and invalid carriages apparently – never really noticed that before tbh.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/16ye4u9gy49lt4x/M5%20cycle%20lane.png
No explicit mention of Harleys…
fukawitribe wrote:morseykayak
Its one of these things where there are rules but where the rules are never enforced.
I suspect the idea was that the only vehicles allowed on it would be those which *aren’t* allowed on the motorway itself.
There are a few kids on scooters – my son was learning to ride his bike on the cycle path on the Pill side, and fell off after being buzzed by a kid on a scooter – but it is usually larger motorcycles going across, ridden by blokes who really should know better.
I’d presume that the blokes are commuting to and from work at the docks (the Portbury docks on one side, the Avonmouth docks on the other), and just go along the cycle path because its a shorter route than going out to the motorway.
All the police need to do is stand a couple of PCs at one end or the other for a couple of hours around ‘rush hour’ and have a stern word.
(Unfortunately, the last time I saw police on there was when I had my panniers searched when NATO were meeting in Newport and some of the delegates were going to be crossing the motorway bridge and “we just want to see whether you have anything that could affect the fabric of the bridge”…)
bikeclips wrote:I don’t know
I’d had similar arguments in favour of barriers. Problem is that most of the chavs with bikes are in gangs, and can easily manhandle bikes past them. I’ve even seen full size petrol quads lifted over by lads.
meanwhile people with pushchairs, luggage, or bikes are completely scuppered.
A local favourite.
Shared
A local favourite.
Shared use sign, yay!
Cyclist dismount sign, boo.
Local cycle route sign, yay!
Bike symbol on the path, yay!
Dropped kerb, yay!
Railings across the dropped kerb, oh dear…
Second railing, just to make sure (and also block wheelchairs, mobility scooters and prams) now that’s just spiteful.
Here to take a closer look – https://goo.gl/lvCWuW
Bikebot – just wow. I wonder,
Bikebot – just wow. I wonder, as it’s so close to the New Malden to Raynes Park link, being paid for by Mini Holland money, it would be worth talking to the council. As you say, it just seems total overkill, on what should be a handy bike route across the A3. Can you even get a bike through that gap without lifting it?
bikebot wrote:A local
If the alley is shared use, why the need to dismount? surely not for crossing the pavement, as far as I am aware it is legal to drive a car across (as opposed to along) the pavement, otherwise most people break the law every time they park on their drive. Presumably the dropped kerb was put in for that purpose, why then the barriers? It seems these people have some concern that cyclists are suicidal lemmings who will just shoot straight out of cycleways onto the road without looking if a barrier is not there. a stop sign should be sufficient.
The chicane was installed at
What a moronic waste of money, cyclists use the pavement because that is the only way in. FML.
kie7077 wrote:
The chicane
Exactly. The main 4m gate is always locked!!
Sadly these sort of barriers
Sadly these sort of barriers are everywhere in the UK and are still being installed.
They should all be ripped up. They actively create conflict between different path users which would not otherwise exist.
That august body, the Isle of
That august body, the Isle of Wight Council, has recently resurfaced a very popular 2-mile shared path between Wroxall and Shanklin. The publicity announced that walkers, horse riders, dog walkers and cyclists would all benefit. I suppose two out of four ain’t bad.
We cyclists and dog walkers have to contend with a surface dressing of tiny, arrowhead flints that cause havoc with animal paws and most bike tyres. I’ve had two flats in half-a-mile, my wife had one within the first hundred yards and we know of dozens of other victims. Most of our cycling friends no longer use the path and it seems to be mostly holiday makers who ride onto it unaware. The number of dog walkers has also dropped, if our experience is representative.
The council’s response to complaints has been a predictable and defensive statement explaining that the surface must be OK as it’s been used in Kew Gardens. You couldn’t make it up.
mike the bike wrote:That
That stuff is the worst, you can’t brake on it, like you say it’s a puncture nightmare and when the wind picks up clouds of nasty gritty dust fly everywhere.
If you’re a path designer then DO NOT USE THIS NASTY MATERIAL, EVER.
Here’s a pet peeve. This is a
Here’s a pet peeve. This is a nice alternative to getting around London’s A40/Marylebone Road/Edgware Road area north/south or vice-versa. Westminster College is at the rear in the Streetview. Church Street market is nearby, Paddington Green (and through an underpass Paddington Station and so on) behind you.
There is a very wide pavement with more than adequate space for a cycle lane. Yet none is marked and the barriers are staggered to impeded progress. If they want to exclude cars, use bollards.
It appears cyclists are supposed to use the busy slip road parallel to the elevated A40 here. Even though that has no connection to the underpass (it is eastbound-only), so how you could travel south is a bit of a mystery. Going south from the college would require turning right onto busy Edgware Road.
https://goo.gl/maps/czxtZ
Nice bollard in the middle
Nice bollard in the middle here. This is the route onto Marylebone Road, so I suppose they worried some tourist on a Boris bike might not realise the cycling infrastructure ends as soon as it begins
https://goo.gl/maps/Tp2zj
https://www.google.com/maps/@
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.0097238,-2.0741558,281m/data=!3m1!1e3
Slightly different, see the feint green line through the grass, yes that is an NCN path, bit further on it goes through a wheat field, a ploughed wheat field!
https://www.google.com/maps/@52.062337,-1.999841,3a,75y,347.08h,72.62t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s3cC8RCDdcyZ0XStt8sQ0tg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1
nice bollards, blind bend NCN41, gravel, potholes….
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.910083,-2.079915,3a,75y,257.25h,67.86t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s0uI53Bqh_TySEqUQLEKC6g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
gravel potholes, you can’t see the tight gate where you enter the path properly at the end. NCN41
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Folly+Ln,+Cheltenham,+Gloucestershire+GL50+4BY,+UK/@51.907812,-2.08301,3a,75y,2.3h,81.99t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sVr5LOWYKDWkQeVmp7g5V5Q!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!4m2!3m1!1s0x48711b84d92197bf:0x8dbcf08c7a8e9977
NCN41 again
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.897142,-2.098738,3a,75y,78.61h,76.57t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sJkEc9hBZ3ZWSLUssDo4lKQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Another stupid tight entrance, although in this case you can cut through the railway station carpark opposite, if you know you can!
https://www.google.com/maps/@51.895795,-2.124006,3a,75y,34.73h,73.28t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sAQ_Y8z-TROUbcHfaDAyMRg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
how about this one, it is a shared use path, but please don’t ride your bike???
Plenty of others, thing that really pisses me off though is ANY issue with an NCN, aren’t these meant to be audited and signed off???
ibike wrote:Sadly these sort
Looks like a job for Angle Grinder Man
http://heroesinthenight.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/angle-grinder-man-legacy-continues.html
Just experienced this (a
Just experienced this (a kissing gate) in the New Forest. A solo bike could get through with a bit of shuffling back and forth (why must you do that??) but my MTB and tagalong? No chance! And why all those gates every 200 metres? Do we make car drivers get out and open a gate to make progress? This was in part on an NCN too.
deblemund wrote:Just
On the gates for cars, I have come across a few, it is VERY unusual which I guess is the point!
mrmo wrote:deblemund
the only gates I have ever come across for cars have been to keep livestock in
Well obviously, cycle paths
Well obviously, cycle paths are put in to meet some sort of target, and then someone advises the council that cyclists are using them, which comes as a bit of a shock, and they have to put a stop to that sort of behavior.
This beauty cropped on my FB
This beauty cropped on my FB feed recently.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CJv87GfVAAAX6Vb.jpg:large
Why are we still building
Why are we still building this crap? Because Cameron doesn’t care about cycling safety enough to impose minimum standards on councils because that would go against localism and be red tape… but I can’t hear them saying they’ll remove any of the red tape forcing councils to design for motor vehicles which hinders good cycling infrastructure either!
a.jumper wrote:Why are we
Because the labour party in 17 years in office did so much for cycle infrastructure standards.
There are plenty of things you can complain about, but this is not one of them.
wycombewheeler wrote:a.jumper
This is one of them. The Brown and Blair governments were useless for cycling too, but they’re not in power any more, so aren’t the reason we are STILL building this crap.
Sadly, all of this is typical
Sadly, all of this is typical of the complete lack of understanding in road planning offices in general.
Road planners either don’t understand or don’t care about the needs of cyclists.
‘Planning’ such as it is, generally appears to be an exercise in box ticking.
So, until they come up with cycle routes that are actually useable by cyclists, I will continue to use the road – as I am fully entitled to do.
Why are we still building
Why are we still building this rubbish?
…because as any of you who read the ‘popular’ press will be fully aware, cyclists are currently the greatest danger to modern civilisation that exists. We put small children at risk with our high speeds and irresponsible lack of bells, while frightening old ladies to death by appearing in stealth mode from thin air.
As long as a large number of fckwits perpetuate such nonsense with their local councillors, then we will get meddlesome obstructions to perfectly good routes.
JeevesBath wrote: …
It’s a bit off topic, but can anyone explain how – if cyclists are such evil predators – so many pedestrians fail to notice us when they decide to cross the road?
You’d think they would be hyper aware of us by now, able to smell chain lube at a hundred paces, that sort of thing, like gazelles and lions (not that lions smell of chain lube) (I think).
Instead, they look right through me and just walk. I honestly don’t know if literally don’t see me (some sort of bicyle based chameleon circuit), or if they think “It’s just a cyclist” and think it won’t hurt if I hit them (and if the latter, then why the horror of cyclists on shared space and footpaths?).
And if I failed to swerve around them, and actually hit one of them, you can bet that I’d be the bad guy…!
/rant
brooksby wrote:It’s a bit off
Part of the problem is that no one appreciates how fast a halfway competent cyclist goes. Even if you’re only doing 15mph, that’s about 10mph faster than you’re going in someone’s head when they glance up and see you, which means you’re closing 3 times faster than they’re expecting. In their head they have all the time in the world, because they think cyclists are slow.
I average about 15mph across the various types of rides I do – some flat, some hilly. So on a flat stretch I can be doing 20mph. That’s not much by the standards of a lot of decent cyclists, but the “laypeople” that I speak to think I ride at about 10mph. There’s clearly a big disconnect between how fast people think we are and how fast we actually are.
Do they have these barriers
Do they have these barriers in The Netherlands or Denmark?
They are just trying to
They are just trying to ensure active-travel is as active as possible. Otherwise people might improve their leg muscles at the expense of upper body strength. To avoid that they’ve helpfully added some weight-lifting exercises, where you lift your entire bike plus panniers to shoulder height or above every few hundred yards.
They spoil us really.
FluffyKittenofTindalos
I hit a trail earlier in the year that was like that after heading out for what seemed like a nice CX solo ride, after about the 7th-8th gate my upper body had quite enough weight lifting and it was only the fact I knew Id have to repeat the whole thing in reverse if I turned back that made me push on. fortunately some nice people out walking helped me over the last one, though it may just have been I was holding them up blocking the whole gate.
I’m surveying all the bike
I’m surveying all the bike infrastructure like this so there’s data on what is out there. I get the feeling councils don’t know what they have put in or put in, so maybe (hate to use the word) some joined up thinking will prevail once all these facilities are mapped (at least in North Wales) and any new stuff will follow best practice or we can see what best practice is.