Shrewsbury’s English Bridge to be transformed by cycling scheme
Sunday 19th September 2010, 12:00AM BST.
Shrewsbury’s English Bridge’s road layout will be transformed as part of a £20,000 scheme to allow a better flow of traffic into the gyratory area of the town and also make space for a cycle lane.
The changes will be made next year in a project funded by Shropshire Council in a bid to ease congestion around the bridge, which goes over the River Severn and links the Abbey Foregate area with the town centre.
Last summer council transport bosses coned off one of the two-way lanes going from the town centre to run a trial cycle lane. And today the council said following the pilot scheme the cycle way is to be made permanent.
Samantha Tharme, Shropshire Council’s team leader for traffic and transport studies, said: “We are currently revising the design to install cycle lanes on the English Bridge in Shrewsbury. This revised design will address some of the issues observed during the trial last summer.
“A scheme to install these cycle lanes is planned for next year. It won’t be the same as the trial, we are altering it to allow better flow of traffic into the gyratory, so that queuing is not a problem.
“The scheme is expected to cost around £20,000 and it will be funded by Shropshire Council.
“There will be a cycle lane on both sides of the English Bridge. This will mean that there will only be two traffic lanes over the bridge, but there will be plenty of room to accommodate queuing traffic before the gyratory.”
In the summer of 2008 Shrewsbury was one of 12 towns to be awarded cycling town status by Cycling England. As a result Shrewsbury got £1.8 million of grant funding from the Department for Transport for the next three years. Cycle Shrewsbury is the campaign that Shropshire Council is running with the cycling town funding.
So far cycle paths have been installed throughout the town and leaflets handed out and cycle awareness days held to boost the number of people taking to two wheels.
Shrewsbury was also one of 79 places across the UK chosen to receive Connect2 funding from Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity.
Earlier this week work to finalise a permanent pedestrian crossing refuge in Smithfield Road took place with overnight resurfacing work.
It is part of a Connect2 scheme to link the walking and cycling route along Smithfield Road with Roushill, Raven Meadows and Meadow Place. The crossing has cost about £15,000.
By Emma Kasprzak
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Remove two queuing lanes of traffic leaving the town and replace them with one, doesn’t take a genius to work out the result, gridlock through the town centre, a fortune has already been spent on cycle lanes that are hardly ever used, even cyclists ignore them and continue to use roads that have been narrowed to accommodate them.
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Oh yes, that must be the project a short time ago that brought half the town to a standstill, and in the whole time the lane was coned off i dont recall seeing any bikes at all using it, even though i use that bridge roughly 10 to 20 times a day!
Oh well, maybe the traffic congestion wont be too bad on that road due to the traffic gridlock on Smithfield Road, Frankwell and Town Walls due to the lane closure on Smithfield!
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What a ridiculous idea. One of the main gateways into the town centre will have a lane of traffic removed to accommodate two cycle lanes. The traffic into and out of town is congested enough without losing more roads.
If Samantha Tharme believes this scheme will work she needs brain surgery. A perfect example is the debacle on Telford Way. One vehicle breaks down and it’s chaos. No room to accommodate emergency vehicles and the traffic flow has not improved. At least the cyclists and pedestrians have more room that the cars hey.
Another nail in the town centre ghost town.
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Oh dear! The council has £1.8 million to spend so lets spend it and cock up another road system in the town that works perfectly well and squeeze two lanes of traffic into one. How can that be without causing traffic hold ups? For one example at the moment the number 25 and number 8 buses travel along side each other when approaching the gyatory now they will have to travel behind each other and with other traffic doing the same the result will be a tailback up Wyle Cop. If they want cycle lanes reduce the width of the pavements,a cycle lane isn’t all that wide for heavens sake.
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Excellent news.
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..and they’ll still use the pavements to cycle on despite all the money being put into this….
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Yeah, cyclists riding round with big spikes sticking out of their wheels shooting at people with guns and drinking heavily whilst taking heroin.
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Amazing to see the difference to the roads once the kids are back at school! During the six weeks holidays I was quite happily cycling to work without having to take evasive action from the cars on Ellesmere Road, now they’re back at school and its Gridlock.
Maybe all of the drivers that weren’t using this road 3-4 weeks ago should ‘get on their bikes’ and stop polluting the planet for the rest of us!
Good news about the cycle paths, which I always use!…Please put Ellesmere Road as the next project!
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Oh dear Barbara not that old chestnut again. In all my years walking around Shrewsbury I have never felt at any risk from a cyclist riding inconsiderately past me on a pedestrian pavement. You must be one unlucky person if you’re constantly having this problem. However on the occasions when I’m on my bike and using a designated “shared use” pavement I am forever having to swerve out (usually into the pedestrian lane) to avoid pedestrians walking in the cycle lane, when there’s clearly no advantage in doing so. There’s usually an empty pedestrian lane running alongside it and clearly marked cycle signs on the lane they’re walking in. I sometimes wonder if these people who are forever complaining about cyclists riding on pavements are the same ones always walking in the cycle lanes!
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Try walking across Greyfriars Bridge -despite the ‘no cycling’ signs at both ends in big bold letters – you will soon find yourself in the way of cyclists of all ages and types and probably get sworn at if you challenge them as a dear old couple of pensioners were when they decided to request that the two cyclists dismount. Even the postman cycles across.
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I have to say I think this is one of the most stupid ideas the council has had so far (although the crossing at Smithfield Road comes a very close second). Are they trying to close down Shrewsbury as a place people can and want to go shopping in? No wonder this town is dying on it’s feet. What with this and the stupid road humps on town walls, which I’m sure are designed to wreck small economical non polluting cars, not big cumbersome gas cusslers! our beautiful town will soon become a ghost town.
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Well said ‘Rainlady’ I agree 100%.
What the h??? this council is trying to do is beyond me.
When if ever, will they listen to the public who simply DO NOT WANT THIS?
Never is the answer, as the long term aim has always been to keep traffic out of the town, and if they can’t win one way then they try another.
When they have created this ‘Ghost Town’, they can have their pedestrianized area, as there will be ‘NO SHOPS IN THE TOWN ANYWAY, AS THE TRADE WILL SIMPLY GO ELSEWHERE.’
Any chance of Shrewsbury holding the ‘Brain of Britain Contest? Well first of all we need to remove the ‘None Brains’ who currently work in this crackpot department. Then there may be a chance for the pubic to be taken seriously, AND NOT LOOKED AT AS A LAUGHING STOCK BY OUR NEIGHBORING POPULATION.
DO WE NEED THAT SMITHFIELD ROAD CROSSING? ‘NO’
DO WE NEED THE ENGLISH BRIDGE LAYOUT CHANGED ‘NO’
I REALLY GIVE UP EXPECTING COMMON SENSE FROM THIS LOT, I REALLY DO.
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great news will be safer for all to have segration of pedestian/cyclist/cars so it will save lives
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I’ve read this article several times and still am gobsmacked by the stupidity of this.
The trial was an absolute disaster! I saw one cycle on the ‘lane’ in the long time I spent queuing alongside it and caused horrendous traffic problems across the town.
I am sick of driving down roads which have been narrowed to accomodate cycle lanes which cyclists won’t use (for whatever reason) leaving it more dangerous as cars move around to accomodate them.
I drive because I have to, not because I’m fat or lazy and I cannot understand these ridiculous decisions affecting traffic in the centre of Shrewsbury right now unless this is some way of forcing a decision for the North West Relief Road?
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So you don’t want a cycle lane narrowing the road? Neither do most cyclists, they’d prefer to use the road but can’t win. The Cycling Touring Club, the biggst UK organisation representing cyclists campaigned vigourously for non-segregated cycling in the 1930′s and won, arguing that doing so would marginalise cyclists who had been there before the invention of the motor car. They gained cyclists a legal right to be on the road all those years ago that was confirmed by the Daniel Cadden case recently, but you end up with one of the following no win situations:
Cyclists on the path. Illegal, but they do so to get away from the minority of irresponsible drivers.
Cyclists on the road. Legal, but get picked on by that same minority who can’t wait a nano-second and try to squeeze past or hurl abuse at people actually helping to reduce the number of cars in rush hour citing the usual “Road Tax” misinformation – crazy.
(Road Tax was abolished in 1936 – it’s Vehicle Excise Duty now which gives you a right to own a car, not use the road – and which goes into general tax coffers – Council tax pays for all roads but motorways).
So you end up with an over-zealous council giving you just what they think cyclists want for safety purposes from the nanny state but actually don’t – and at the expense of all drivers thanks to the irresponsible few.
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Take a deep breath peeps. There is absolutely no point ranting once the decision has been made.
There will have been endless public meetings, planning sessions, and notices. You should have paid attention.
As with every other idiotic decision made by any council, it is easy to sit back and be critical after the event but far more challenging to make a difference during the process.
Quit whinging and get involved. Otherwise your spouting angry drivel is a good indicator of the level of your laziness.
And finally, the council will not rest until the town centre is completely car-less. Get used to it or get involved.
Peace.
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I think London Road is more in need of a decent bicycle lane as many college students do ride bikes along that road and it is very bad repair.
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A simple problem solved. Leave your car in the car parks outside the bridges and USE YOUR LEGS TO GET INTO TOWN.
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as a cyclist i definately think its needed here, but as a motorist im unsure about both sides, sure there is no traffic now its a recession but in 5 years time when a new government gets in and the economy picks up again i forsee a big rise in traffic again, where will the cars go?? i think a half way house good middle ground would be just on one side but im delighted there is more cycle lanes going into shrewsbury because long term thats the safest option for all road users
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As a cyclist who uses English Bridge this is good news. However this should be considered with wider improvements to traffic management on the gyratory.
Would it not make sense (and reduce queueing) for traffic to flow without giving way at the end of English Bridge and have traffic coming around the gyratory give way? Traffic flow must surely be greater onto English Bridge from the gyratory than from Old Potts/Belle Vue to Abbey Foregate?
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As previously mentioned the trail was a total disaster – so guarenteeing that the council would go ahead. Do these public servants actually listen or care about the views of the people they are meant to serve? No wonder there is little sympathy for them as the axe begins to fall on their jobs!
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Hit the nail on the head Tyrone Shoelaces.
What is a good thing for one can be a bad thing for someone else.
Like with the street lighting being switched off at night proposal.
I notice it is the so called eco warriors or star gazers who are all for it however, not maybe the nightworkers of which we have an awful lot these days.
I would love to see the town centre with less traffic. I remember in the early 1980s when Pride Hill was proposed to be pedestrianised and it was going to be the end of the town according to many at the time.
There does need to be some provision for those who need some transport other than those large filthy buses though.
I think Shrewsbury does need to sell itself on it’s historical attractiveness but not turn into a theme park like at Ironbridge where we can (if it appeals!) go and pretend to be Victorians etc.
We need to make it a great and pleasant place to visit, but hanging baskets, a park that looks like a crematorium and houses that look like the bland boxes you see all over the country are not the answer.
Great modern design alongside the protected true and evolving, authentic, historical legacy of the town should keep Shrewsbury vibrant and forward looking.
The assets of the town are it’s history but that has to co-exist with a modern world to be successful and the motor traffic is the hardest to get right.
It’s not been all that successful in modern towns up to now when you look at Telford or Redditch.
Other road users than vehicular traffic have to be considered too.
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Having read your comment I agree that it would be nice to have less traffic in the town centre. I am one of those who are able to walk into our beautiful historical centre. I also have to agree with others who think this is a waste of money as cyclists still use pavements not roads and congestion will get worse.
As someone who works within tourism I would however like to point out that Visitors like the hanging baskets and it is the public realm that adds to the attractiveness of the town. The Quarry is a great place – plenty of space for families and cyclists alike!
It is only Blists Hill Museum at ironbridge where the staff/volunteers dress up and there is a point to the museum its about bringing history to life! visitors learn so much more by talking to the staff and learning more about the social side of Victorian Shropshire instead of just looking at Artefacts and boring buildings! Visitors like events – the Flower Show, Folk Festival are good examples of this
If you stop the traffic coming into Shrewsbury we will lose our shops like so many have mentioned – we need to encourage more visitors and locals to spend. There needs to be more proactive work on how we keep the economy moving forward.
What is the economic benefit to the town of having cycle routes?
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Surely it would be a good idea just to pedestrianise the whole of the town centre. The town isn’t designed for high volumes of traffic. Park on the outskirts and walk in. This works perfectly in Dumfries, which is a lot bigger then Shrewsbury. Problem solved
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Absolutly spot on, There has been a perfectly good ring road for years but people still don’t use it prefering to drive through the town queing in traffic and banging on about the council. buses, taxis and disabled vehicle owners should be the only people permittes to drive from the bottom of Wyle Cop to Barker Street..
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It is problem for some elderly and those less able to get up the hilly parts like the Cop for example, so there needs to be some sort of simple bus service, may be electric?
Residents livng in the town have to have access.
Other areas like York do not allow huge delivery vehicles into the town centre. They have to tranfer goods to a smaller van for delivery purposes.
The shop keepers are totally opposed to this however. They fear that it will lose them custom.
A beautiful road like the Cop could be enjoyed far more if you could cross it easily, not be knocked by a wing mirror on a van as |I once was, walking up it.
How many people ever stop to admire the view towards and of the Wrekin at the top?
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First they alter smithfield road FOR NO REASON, now this. These schemes do nothing but gridlock the town more. Although maybe that is what they want so they can apply for congestion charging to start and line their own pockets.
The problem with this is that there was NO PROBLEM to begin with, as the article reads, they are looking to fix problems that they saw during the trial, no work before or after to see how it works as it is.
IDIOTS! WHY DON’T THEY LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE WHO USE THE ROADS INSTEAD OF SPENDING MONEY ON FIXING PROBLEMS THAT NEVER EXISTED…GRRR!
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“IDIOTS! WHY DON’T THEY LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE WHO USE THE ROADS INSTEAD OF SPENDING MONEY ON FIXING PROBLEMS THAT NEVER EXISTED…GRRR!”
Because, if they didn’t do anything and left everything just as it is, their jobs wouldn’t be needed and they couldn’t justify their inflated salaries…so they invent work and then when it doesn’t work, they then have some work to do to put it right again…only the public sector could get away with this…if I carried on my business like this, I wouldn’t have any work either but then I wouldn’t get paid.
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And you suggested that i needed anger management..
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I think you quoted the wrong respondent there, spencer
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i like it but then i cycle sometimes, i guess most of the respondants are too fat and lazy to cycle so think its not important
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So you think most people who have responded who don’t cycle are fat and lazy? Perhaps “just” cyclists are skinny and hyper?
Well I am quite fat but not lazy, and I do cycle – to help loose weight and keep healthy etc… but I am also a motorist. I like and use cycle lanes but can plainly see this is a silly ill-thought-out idea.
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Everybody is getting het up about being able to drive to the shops… Can i ask when the last time you drove into a shop was? Was the shopkeeper happy you drove into his shop? What is wrong with parking up and walking in… Or heaven forbid using a bus which takes you to high street???
Look at Chester lovely pedestrianised shopping centre partially accessible…Nobody seems to complain there!!!
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