Fallowfield Loop - the Lattice Bridge

Back in March the repairs began on the the Lattice Bridge at the Loop entrance to Highfield country park.





Now the repairs are complete it's open and much smarter.






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Fallowfield Loop - Broom Lane Bridge Puddle...

If you ever find yourself faced with this puddle under the Broom Lane Bridge on the Fallowfield Loop, then think twice before cycling through.

I discovered that this is a lot deeper than it looks. The tide marks on my bike showed that this was around 50cm deep, once I'd cycled through it.



From the other side it looked a lot less inviting.



The shoes took a whole day to dry out...


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Fallowfield Loop - closures and openings.

Don't know how long it's been like this but today I found the bike/pedestrian crossing on the Fallowfield Loop at Sainsbury's is currently closed.



I could find no explanation for the closure,



And no alternative route was signposted. Not good.



Also a little further to the east, work has started on repairing the Lattice Bridge at the Loop entrance to Highfield country park.





Unfortunately this means that, even on a Sunday afternoon with no work taking place, the path is being used for vehicle parking.



However, the good news is that this means that two of the dreadful barriers have been opened.





Diversion notice and map from photos by Cos Harnasz.






Friends of the Fallowfield Loop

Further barriers on the Fallowfield Loop

Just when you thought there were enough stupid barriers on the Fallowfield Loop, the situation gets worse...



The above photograph was taken by me on 26th June.



It now looks like this - photo from MCRcycling.

Hat-tip to MCRcycling

Just how much money was wasted on repositioning these barriers to make matters even worse for cycling? The people who did this are actively discriminating against people who through disability or choice ride non-standard cycles.

Manchester City Council and Transport for Greater Manchester are clearly failing local people who wish to use this route for cycling. Sustrans, however, should and does know better.

The Disability Discrimination Act was
enacted in 1995, but the duties on
service providers were introduced
in stages. On 1 October 2004, the
final stage came into force. The duty
on service providers reads as follows:
“Where a ‘physical feature’ makes it
impossible or unreasonably difficult for
disabled people to make use of any
service which is offered to the public,
a service provider must take reasonable
steps to:

• Remove the feature; or
• Alter it so that it no longer has that effect; or
• Provide a reasonable means of avoiding the feature; or
• Provide a reasonable alternative method of making the service available to disabled people.”

-------

One further thought - these barriers are not here to stop motorbikes or cars, they are trying to enforce the Cyclists Dismount signs at the tram crossing. Perhaps they have been moved because some people have been able to ride round the barriers...

Well there is a solution which does work and enables full acces for non standard cycles. It is in use on the Bristol to Bath Railway Path - spring loaded gates.



A tandem negotiates the gate (painted orange) on the Bristol to Bath Path.

Image from http://picasaweb.google.com/wetandem/WessexCotswolds

Fallowfield Loop Sculptures

There are a few sculptures on the Fallowfield Loop cycle path. Unfortunately none of the leaflets give their locations or origins, so here's my record of them and any information where I can find it. Click on the images to see the locations.



Man, woman and child by local sculptor Rachel Ramchurn

More information about the project



The only Sustrans Milepost I noticed.



Four animal sculptures

from the Friends of Fallowfield Loop Newsletter

The stone sculptures situated between Princess Road and Athol Road were originally funded from a grant for the improvement of the A6 corridor, and had simply been ‘parked’ in their original site. The team has now moved them to where they belong, apart from the heaviest one which has had to be left where it is. A site has been arranged for the four animal sculptures between Slade Lane and Errwood Road, and brick and stone plinths have been constructed to give them high visibility to passers-by.

And finally the one sculpture which does feature in a leaflet, but I can find no other information about it on-line.

Barriers, bollards, boulders and tank traps – all part of the Manchester Cycleway.

On a clockwise ride along the South and East section of the Manchester Cycleway, you soon get the feeling that someone isn't too keen on people riding bikes particulally non-standard machines, after all this is the National Cycle Network...



The Barriers round here come in many forms, one starts to wonder if the designers get paid more that way. Sadly there are no warnings about them on the map. There are gates and "A" frames,



steel obstructions, it's easiest to lift your bike over



and British Cycling - funded by motor manufacturers and the right wing media.



The bollards, on the other hand, are pretty standard.





But the boulders are a one-off on this route. However, they do get you in the right frame of mind for



the tank traps. These crop up several times, making me wonder if council officers still think they are fighting the last war somewhere around Gorton!



Finally at Chorlton, there is that sign again. This time, two in a row, just in case you miss the first one.



All this would be a bit of a joke, except that for someone riding a tricycle, a tandem, a four-wheeler, or towing a trailer this route is impossible without help to lift the machine round the obstructions. Many people can't or don't use these routes because the council seem to think that only fit people with conventional bicycles need to be catered for. Sustrans, however, should and does know better.

The Disability Discrimination Act was
enacted in 1995, but the duties on
service providers were introduced
in stages. On 1 October 2004, the
final stage came into force. The duty
on service providers reads as follows:
“Where a ‘physical feature’ makes it
impossible or unreasonably difficult for
disabled people to make use of any
service which is offered to the public,
a service provider must take reasonable
steps to:

• Remove the feature; or
• Alter it so that it no longer has that effect; or
• Provide a reasonable means of avoiding the feature; or
• Provide a reasonable alternative method of making the service available to disabled people.” (2)

-------------------------------

Update: a timelapse video of the route from manchestercyclist

Fallowfield Loop - Ashton to Chorlton

Fallowfield Loop - the Sainsbury's Tunnel

Having found a reference to a tunnel under the road at Sainsbury's, I had a nose round with the camera today.

Sure enough, you can see the two ends and some of the infrastructure joining the tunnel to the Fallowfield path.

From the west the tunnel is approached by the side of the buildings on the railway bed.



The entrance can be seen, blocked by gates.



From the east the giveaway to its location is the cycle track in the middle of the vehicle ramp



which connects to the gap in the kerb...



Behind the wall is the cycle route



which would have entered the tunnel here.



The designer has removed his version from his web site, so sadly we don't know if he thought this was a good idea or not.

This all begs the question, just how much money was spent on this tunnel and who ended up paying for it?

Update: a follower on twitter has found the text for the deleted web page on the Wayback Machine, so we can now see what he wrote, though the pictures are now sadly lost.


View Fallowfield Loop Tunnel in a larger map

Fallowfield Loop Barriers 2

Had I tried a little harder to research Saturday's route I might have been better prepared. Adding the word "barrier" to Fallowfield Loop on Google would have given me a much better idea of the route.

2people1bike demonstrates the problem nicely with this photo showing how to get a tandem past the barriers.



Cycle A 2 B has a couple of posts with clear photographs of the barriers, Fallowfield Loop 2 and Fallowfield Loop Barrier.

And, if you can cope with wobbly video from a head-mounted camera, there is also a video, though not of the section I cycled.



Here by comparison is Rowland Dye's rather better made timelapse video of the Bristol to Bath Railway Path - notice the lack of barriers along the path.



---

If you are yet to be convinced as to why all cycle routes like this should be open to non-standard pedal cycles then watch this programme - jump 17 minutes in to see just how important cycling is for people with a disability.

---

Interestingly CycleA2B contains this note

"As is this page where I found out there is actually a tunnel underneath Sainsbury's on Wilmslow Road, the design was a cock-up though so it's not in use."

Now, whilst the page linked to is no longer available, it links to this web site... http://www.steveessex.com/jobs/, a name which also turns up in this document about access barriers.

And this document contains a photo of the Fallowfield Loop which explains the horse shit on the path and, quite coincidentally, a photo of my Brox.

Barriers to Cycling on the Fallowfield Loop

On Saturday, I took the Brox Compact on the ride from Oxford Road to Chorlton's Big Green Festival to provide a bit of entertainment. As the route included the Fallowfield Loop railway path I had checked the website of the Friends of the Fallowfield Loop and the online map for information about the use of barriers on the route and couldn't find any information whatsoever. I also checked the Manchester cycling map, but again nothing.

Now I would expect a Sustrans Railway Path to have barriers at the exits and entrances to make it difficult to get motor vehicles onto the route, but the rest of the route should be clear. Sustrans got rid of the in-route barriers on the Bristol to Bath path around 20 years ago.

I had no real difficulty getting onto and off of the path, the machine is narrow enough to get through a normal house door, about the same width as a large wheel chair. However, along the short piece of route between Wilmslow Road and Sandy Lane we encountered four three major barriers, and in three two cases I was very grateful for the other riders who helped lift the Brox over the gates.



This was the first one



This bit of bank on one of the barriers was just wide enough.



and the last one, again the Brox had to be lifted.

Quite how the City Council thinks it can get away with barriers which prevent access for anyone with a disability who has to ride a tricycle or other specially adapted machine. It must also be a real pain for large cycle trailers and tandems. I am sure that the DDA would stop this kind of thing being installed now, and may even make them illegal.

-----

I've tried to find the barriers on Google maps, to plot them, and in the process found this image with two motor vehicles on the path...


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