Deansgate is famous for it's on-street sports events and Manchester City Council seem hell bent on inventing a new one, cycle slalom.
The new northbound cycle lane weaves it's way between pavement and a forest of bollards with priority being given to vehicle parking, loading bays and traffic coming out of side streets.
What's wrong with building cycle lanes that actually go in a straight line along a straight road?
Southbound you are running with the traffic negotiating badly designed bus gates before you are suddenly directed to cross the traffic onto the opposite side of the road only to be dumped back into the traffic just before the end.
Tempted to call it a load of bollards...
As long as cyclists are regarded as third class road users (along with pedestrians) then this expensive waste of tarmac and labour will continue. It's clear that the people who design this urban chaos have never ridden a bicycle, or at least not since childhood.
ReplyDeleteFor the money this has cost the taxpayer through MCC, we could have had a ruler-straight cycle expressway down the length of Deansgate. Instead we get...this.
Trafford Council installed cycle lanes on Chester Road and they are excellent. Straight as an arrow, traffic priority in the right order. Why couldn't MCC do the same?