Irritated locals have hit out at a council for closing a highway for a month to construct a cycle lane simply 20ft lengthy – which has been named ‘a glorified lay-by’.
Pensioner Invoice Priddin says he’s amused by the ‘underwhelming and pointless’ new addition in Kidsgrove, Stoke-on-Trent.
The 73-year-old claims it’s a waste of cash because it’s the ‘solely cycle lane in our city’ and ‘folks don’t even understand it’s there’.
In the meantime, one other native, David Holland, 50, has described the trail as ‘pointless’.
However Staffordshire County Council has defended its challenge, insisting it should make it simpler for residents to get on their bikes, enhancing folks’s well being and wellbeing.
The brand new cycle lane is nonetheless considerably longer than Britain’s shortest cycle lane – measuring simply three-feet in Frampton Cottrell, Bristol.
But when officers are attempting to get folks on their bikes, they’re not doing an excellent job, Invoice has argued.
‘Kidsgrove didn’t have any cycle lanes earlier than’, he stated. ‘They closed that highway down for about 4 or 5 weeks and that's what they put up.
‘It’s solely about 20 toes and that’s the one cycle lane in the entire city.’
‘Should you have a look at the size of it, it’s principally only a lay-by. It solely goes midway up the highway, and that’s the one cycle path now we have – I simply discover it amusing.’
David has backed Invoice up, saying: ‘Folks don’t understand it’s there, and even when they did it wouldn’t get used.
‘Our roads aren’t vast sufficient for cycle paths within the space – cyclists simply use the roads anyway so it’s a waste of cash.
‘Among the areas round the place we reside are excessive in air pollution due to the busy roads, I do know that it's a drawback. However I can’t see how that cycle path will assist to unravel it.’
David Williams, cupboard member for highways and transport at Staffordshire County Council has stated the ‘enhancements are all a part of our plans to make it simpler and safer for folks biking for leisure and for attending to and from work, faculty or school’.
‘By encouraging extra folks to make use of lively and greener modes of journey we is not going to solely assist enhance folks’s well being and wellbeing, however may even assist cut back congestion and air air pollution’, he added.
‘The brand new part of cycleway that crosses Heathcote Road gives the lacking hyperlink of the Nationwide Cycleway Community (NCN) 5, giving folks a extra direct and safer path to cycle by means of the city.
‘The enhancements comply with adjustments to the close by junction that are a part of wider plans to enhance air high quality within the space.’
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