Councillors in Bolton have met with local officials to review a “troubling” cycle lane that drivers say has made a junction “dangerous.”
Segregated cycle lanes have been installed in Farnworth on the Gladstone Road junction as part of Bolton Council’s Market Street transformation. The Dutch-style layout means cyclists do not have to engage with drivers when turning left. However, it is a scaled down implementation of what was initially intended to be a “Cyclops” junction The project was completed with £4.87 million funding from the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements that was granted in 2021 by central government.
However, criticism of the proposal, which began before the process was complete, has persisted and local residents have raised their concerns to newly re-elected councillors in the area. Among the complaints are that the cycle lane has created a narrow “dog-leg” junction that is difficult for larger cars and buses to navigate, and the claim it has caused congestion. However only one of the lanes from the four connecting roads has been reduced to a single lane approaching the junction.
“Following these concerns, we requested a site visit with the relevant officers so we could show them first hand the issues residents and local businesses have highlighted.
“After the visit, officers assured us that they will carefully review the design concerns and bring forward proposals to address the problems raised.”
Ayub had made re-designing the Gladstone junction a priority during his re-election campaign and told The Bolton News, “We know there have been a lot of issues from residents about cycle lanes and that his has become a troubling junction.
“Of course, we want more people to be able to use public transport and to cycle but safety has to be paramount so we will be looking at what we can do about the flow of traffic. These things take time, but I am absolutely committed to finding a solution.”
It’s not the first time Farnworth drivers have been worked up by newly-installed cycle infrastructure. After phase one of the Market Street transformation was complete, residents blamed for cycle lane for causing drivers to treat surrounding residential streets as a “rat-run”, with one resident likening the traffic flow down their residential street to a motorway.
48 thoughts on “Review ordered into “too wide cycle lane” accused of causing danger and confusion for passing drivers”
My sympathy is with the motorists here. The layout is totally confusing.
If I was driving a car and making a left turn, I would be unsure which line to take.
Do I drive along the green lane with the cycle painted on it?
Do I smash through the traffic lights and bollards?
Or, ridiculous option I know, or stay in the same lane on the grey tarmac road?
@Mr Blackbird Thank God we’ve got AI that drivers can turn to on their phones * for help when they encounter this kind of nightmare. Technology yet again improves our lives!
* Just joking – they will be calling it up on the binnacle of their Teslas. Although in that case presumably they’ll get Grok, which is likely to tell them to run over any cyclists (especially if “not from round here”) to defend their nation!
Really? It’s not that difficult
@Geordiepeddeler Think you’ll find Mr B is clearly being ironic here…
Angry drivers in “unable to steer” shocker.
As drivers we’ve been pandered to for so long in road design that poor standards are now ingrained behaviour. Hence the near universal inability to correctly negotiate a mini roundabout or any bend/turn/junction that isn’t smoothed out for faster motor vehicle flow. It’s a familiar experience when out cycling to arrive at a T-junction wanting to turn right, only to be confronted by a driver approaching from the left (& wanting to turn across me into the road I’m on,) who clearly intends to cut the corner and is visibly put out when they can’t, & then proceeds to make an absolute hash of correctly negotiating the turn. Is steering not part of the driving test these days?
I’ve also been knocked off in that scenario once by someone that was looking at their phone at the time, so didn’t see me until I shouted “OH FUUUU…” as I became familiar with their bonnet.
Most cars / vans etc have had increasing levels of automation in recent years : auto lane correction, collision warnings etc. I think your experiences relate to the very latest 2025 – 2026 models which don’t have steering wheels (although a horn button is still provided).
@Mr Blackbird Ah – progress.
@Mr Blackbird Ah – progress.
That’s be the new auto “poster aid” function coming in I guess
@Clem Fandango wrote “I’ve also been knocked off in that scenario once by someone that was looking at their phone at the time, so didn’t see me until I shouted “OH FUUUU…” as I became familiar with their bonnet. ”
Like this one perhaps :
https://road.cc/content/news/mechanic-escapes-ban-after-cutting-corner-cyclist-293891
@Bungle_52 Exactly like that. Still gives me the shivers when I think about it.
Side note: I was wearing a bright red top (not “hi-viz” but very visible on a clear day,) had insurance, was wearing a helmet – which didn’t sustain so much as a scratch, and was running working lights front & rear. The incident still happened though. What are the chances?
@Clem Fandango It was clearly your lack of bike licence and registration plate that was responsible.
@Clem Fandango (transliterating US experience to UK directions)
I see people waiting to turn left out of their driveways until traffic from the left has gone past. They literally either don’t know where the front of their car is, or they know they will swing over the centre line while making the turn.
The US is less exceptional than it was thanks to crafty (or ruthless) marketing … but don’t some of those vehicle hoods (bonnets) have different zip codes (postcodes)?
@chrisonabike yes, but even minor roads with driveways on them have 12 ft (3.6 m) wide lanes.
@andystow even minor roads with driveways on them have 12 ft (3.6 m) wide lanes
Interestingly comparable roads, and this is a minor B-road, although it’s the main road from Catterall to Garstang
Am I just woke? On first Streetview I can’t see any “problems” for drivers here. There’s a massive wide sea of asphalt for them, traffic lights to manage other drivers and no obstructions.
Genuine question: what is this “dog leg”? Can anyone explain why this would be concerning? Is there something amiss with the light phases?
Or is it just that there are so many other humans driving there that it’s even stressful if you are in a metal box?
Try doing that manoeuvre at speed whilst driving s..t-faced and posting on TikTok. It’ll require some sort of driving heroics to avoid an incident.
@chrisonabike
Well if you are just woke, then you’re not alone – I have had a look around on the Google maps insert and honestly can’t understand the ‘outrage’. It just seems to me that the comments are all essentially saying ‘you know we can’t drive properly, so why are you trying to make us?’ – But then again this seems to have become standard in this (and probably most) nations. Why bother trying to make drivers drive to an acceptable standard, better to mitigate their incompetence/impatience/belligerence than to challenge it.
“Among the complaints are that the cycle lane has created a narrow “dog-leg” junction that is difficult for larger cars and buses to navigate” – why would it? The junctions you are turning into are traffic light controlled – even if a bus or longer vehicle has to, it can ‘take’ the opposite lane without coming into conflict with oncoming traffic, which has been set back far enough to facilitate this. “…and the claim it has caused congestion.” I’m calling bullshit on this.
@Kendalred
‘I have had a look around on the Google maps insert and honestly can’t understand the ‘outrage’.’
The outrage is because someone spent some money on cyclists, not drivers.
@chrisonabike Also, isn’t ‘dogleg’ just a right or left turn? Are they now saying that drivers struggle with turns??
It’s not a Dutch style junction at all; a Dutch style junction would have pedestrian crossings outside the cycle lanes, not inside it.
It isn’t a “cut down” version of anything; it is an absolutely bog standard cyclops junction – the only one in Bolton currently.
As far as drivers are concerned, it’s just a traffic light controlled cross-roads. If they can’t cope with that, then they shouldn’t be driving.
@MrHappyCyclist Sounds like you’re familiar with it. Is it possible to explain this so-called dog leg they mention? Or is it a figment of their imagination?
@Surreyrider I think it is this junction: https://what3words.com/keep.sheep.social
Using the measuring tool on Google Maps, taking the dimensions of a Wrightbus Streetdeck, I can see that a driver would have to take care turning left – you know, like a trained driver would – and might need to use both lanes* on Market St to make the left turn.
(* Those lanes only exist as very short directional filters at the junction, northbound; in all other regards for motorists, Market St is a single lane in each direction.)
Interestingly, go and have a look at the car transporter in Street View, viewed on Market St, August 2025. What is going through that trained driver’s mind?
@Surreyrider As mentioned by @kinderje, it’s just a slight bend to the left in the junction. Drivers can’t just cut the bend without risking a collision with oncoming traffic in a right turn lane so the moan because they have to actually follow their lane (though most appear to cut the bend anyway).
@MrHappyCyclist wrote “It isn’t a “cut down” version of anything; it is an absolutely bog standard cyclops junction – the only one in Bolton currently.”
I don’t think it is a standard cyclops junction. At a cyclops junction cyclists have priority all round the junction, in this one cyclists are dependant on beg buttons.
AFAIK cyclists don’t have priority (crossing motor traffic) anywhere with traffic lights – that wouldn’t make sense.
What the Cyclops designs deliver cyclists is a “free left turn” in complete safety. And then for crossing roads it probably varies. Certainly some of them have “all green for cyclists” where you can cross several arms of a junction (so potentially achieve a right turn onto a cycle path on the left side of a road in a single phase).
(Ranty Highwayman has examples with video on his blog site).
There are a couple of *roundabouts* in the UK now with the typical Dutch urban scheme * of “priority for cyclists on an outer lane round the inner roundabout” though.
* Except in Northern provinces where I believe they prefer a different design without cyclist priority. Note that for *any* roundabout design if motor traffic flows are too high they are supposed to use a different safer design!
@Bungle_52 here are some.
Trafford: https://therantyhighwayman.blogspot.com/2022/08/summer-cyclops-safaris-part-1-manchester.html
Cambridge: https://therantyhighwayman.blogspot.com/2022/08/summer-cyclops-safaris-part-2-cambridge.html
General look at these kind of junctions: https://therantyhighwayman.blogspot.com/2022/05/traffic-signal-pie-innie-vs-outie.html
@chrisonabike Thank you.
@Bungle_52
That one you showed isn’t quite basic standard because it has ASLs on the carriageway. However, ignoring that, the junction is traffic light controlled (the S in CyclOPS stands for Signals). The resolution isn’t good enough to see the push button units but you can see the solid white lines where cyclists have to wait before crossing each arm of the junction.
@MrHappyCyclist You are quite right. I stand corrected. Thank you.
Anyone complaining they can’t negotiate what is no more than a basic left hand turn in their car should immediately have their licence revoked permanently. It is one of the most simple driving tasks. If they can’t manage that then they clearly aren’t safe to be on the roads. Judging by the Councillor’s comments, they are a fair few complainants so it would also do wonders for the congestion this junction has allegedly caused.
@LeadenSkies yep, get them all retested. It sounds like it is a “problem” for them to *think about*.
Perhaps the idea of a cyclist being able to turn left at any time (just like a pedestrian) no matter whether motorists can go is so vexing they worry about being dangerously distracted? Or that someone will suddenly jump out of their vehicle to remonstrate with such a cyclist?
One thing I do note with this Cyclops design is – due to flared corner radii * to cope with higher speeds / deficient drivers – it looks like pedestrians will actually have a bit more road to cross than if they were crossing inside the cycle track.
I understand that Cyclops designs are sold as “pedestrians crossing a road don’t have to divert far from their desire line (eg. straight on)” though.
* Haven’t looked at what the geometry was before – it’s quite possible that this the corners have been made tighter than before in the new situation.
I’ve said previously that all cycle lanes should be painted green, to enable people to know where they can cycle and more importantly CANNOT drive.
If this was done consistently around the country (/world) then it would help alleviate the problem.
On viewing the clips, I don’t see any of the drivers having a problem.
Is there any other video evidence?
@mitsky charming that you think the average UK driver pays any attention to stuff like that. A significant percentage happily ignore the big red patches known as “ASLs”…
(I agree with the general point. Sustainable safety suggests that all road environments should be as “legible” as possible eg. people should understand exactly who is expected where and how they should behave.
If only the UK could agree on a colour. Rumour has it that even the politics of the local authority has a bearing on this cf. London superhighways – in which case we could be looking forward to a veritable rainbow of cycle infra across the UK… or possibly none at all if Reform get more influence)
I agree that I have absolutely no ideas what motorists are complaining about. If the cycling infrastructure wasn’t there but the road layout was the same due to e.g. buildings constraining the road space, I bet there would be zero complaints. They’re just allergic to green paint.
That said, as a cyclist I would be pretty underwhelmed too. Sure you get to skip the lights if you’re turning left, but then you’re just chucked out into the flow of traffic 10m later. If you’re going straight or turning right, it’s just made your journey longer and more complicated – I assume you’ll be waiting ages for a single green phase, and if turning right you’ll probably need to wait for two separate ones. I guess at least it reduces the risk of left hooks, which are a common cause of fatalities at junctions.
@OnYerBike unless the junction is immense * then you should be easily able to get round a couple of legs in a single cyclist green cycle.
I believe that’s the idea. Of course, we all know that our light systems and phases are all about facilitating *motor traffic* flow (with small concessions to pedestrians) so it wouldn’t surprise me if it was a long wait between those phases, or there was pressure to keep them short.
Agree that the “free left turn” is much less “free” if you’re then dumped into the traffic stream not much further on.
* Which of course quite a few in the UK are, to help “improve flow” – which we still expect vulnerable road users to traverse…
@chrisonabike Yes, I have done a full circuit on a single green phase (though you have to mive fast). Most turns should be doable in one.
Good to hear. IIRC the Ranty Highwayman’s videos (also posted links but they’re stuck awaiting moderation) show him getting a good way round some of these.
UK light phasing is frustratingly basic. Get what we pay for of course (also allows us to keep it simple for the distracted people on the UK’s streets). Plus the idea of cyclists being specifically provided for is still startling in most places.
But looking at Europe we could do much better.
That would be *change* though. And cost money, plus I think there maybe traffic engineer rules – or at least very strong conventions – to change.
Here is a video of me going right round in one a couple of years ago.
Having looked all around that junction on Streetview, if a driver cannot handle that, then they should hand in their driving licence post haste.
The biggest issue there is the vanishing of the bike lanes. Imagine if a road appeared for 20 metres and whoosh suddenly ceased to exist. Then drivers would have a genuine cause for complaint.
That one you showed isn’t quite basic standard because it has ASLs on the carriageway. However, ignoring that, the junction is traffic light controlled (the S in CyclOPS stands for Signals). The resolution isn’t good enough to see the push button units but you can see the solid white lines where cyclists have to wait before crossing each arm of the junction.
I took a detour and stopped at the junction for a while when I went past today and made a video. I see two issues, which are about the driving, not the junction design.
The first is very poor lane discipline shown by most drivers coming away from Farnworth; they cut the bend coming into the junction; straddling the right turn lane and the ahead lane instead of using the correct lane and turning the steering wheel when they get into the junction.
The second is drivers going wide when they turn left from Gladstone Road. They just can’t be arsed to turn their steering wheel properly to the left.
Like most of the issues on our roads it is just lazy, bad driving that is the problem.
Excellent reportage. Yup – as suspected its down to the poor habits we have permitted for drivers. Or even deliberately designed for.
(A few people can’t / won’t stick to the rules, so we “fix it” for their “safety” – even though they’re protected by the vehicle and it’s a “training / enforcement issue”. Then since there’s less need for care we end up with the sloppy driving becoming standard which of course we then have to accommodate…)
In your videos, thanks for them, I caught a glimpse of a RHS wandon the bike, please could you tell us more.
Does it negate some close passing?
I was wondering why drivers would be particularly respectful just because of some Royal Horticultural Society branding – its just clicked on second reading…
“too wide cycle lane”
Where do I complain about too wide roads? Three, four, five and six lanes, and all they do is encourage driving.
I think this is right.
Robert Weetman has some good analysis of this in his blog (“Nicer cities, Livable Places”) in the context of some UK urban roads where it seems clear all the extra width is doing is increasing speed, not capacity. (IIRC he touches on the “stacking space” argument also).