Over a month later I emailed them again to ask why they had done nothing about it....
I won't publish the embarasing email chain on this blog, but needless to say there has been no work done at all here, despite what some might claim.
Whilst some of the finer silts have been blown away by the wind, the mud still remains in many places.
On a wet morning the mix of fine sant and mud sticks to the bike and provides a nasty grinding paste for your brakes to eat into your wheel rims. It also sticks to the inside of mudguards and generally gets everywhere, no doubt shortening the life of various bike components.
Further along even this patch of crap has yet to wash away in the rain.
However, it's not the only part of the path that is being neglected.
All that gardening work earlier in the year that involved the closure of the path? Nothing but a patch of weeds.
A bit further west, mind how you go as the railings have gone...
All this work on the Irwell River Park seems to be going to waste. It seems to be easy to gain capital grants for major pieces of work. However, once that initial work is done there seems to be no money to carry out routine path maintenance.
This is not just a problem with the Irwell River Park. The Trans Pennine Trail is nothing but a muddy track in places, only suitable for mountain bikes. Maintenance is a serious problem for the National Cycle Network and other bike routes. I will post more about other routes in the coming weeks.
I've never cycled along here but I have been running down this way recently and in the rain it's slippy enough to be dangerous.
ReplyDeleteThe whole river park branding thing is just farcical. Firstly, it is not, and never was a park. And secondly it's a joke for the website to call it "Manchester City Region’s new international waterfront destination" when it's so poorly maintained.
Personally I think the organisations involved have done an amazing job to create the TPT in the first place, but it is a shame it goes from some patchy mud paths in places to very busy A-roads in others. I guess that's what happens when you have to rely on charities to create leisure cycling facilities because central government and councils are so poor at installing them.
I have cycled this path many times and never get tired of it although I have had a couple of scary moments along the river and heading from Trafford Park in to Stretford on the path near Kellogs, groups of youths think its fun to intimidate cyclists but its only happened twice.
ReplyDeleteCycling in Manchester is good