Sheffield public art project on hold after widespread protest from cyclists

I know this area very well because I work behind the Court (the building on the left of the artist's impression). I ride to work every day and purposely avoid this road, choosing instead to use the dual-carriageway A61 with it's slightly dodgy cycle lane because it is safer! This road is actually a major route out of the city centre to the A61 and M1 motorway. It's basically a short-cut straight through the city up-and-over to join up the ring road without going all the way round.

Wherever they came across the idea that this road is quiet baffles me. It is a major bus route (there's even a Stagecoach bus in the bloody graphic!!!) and West Bar Police station is a little further on, so there are either buses thundering along or Police cars responding with blues and twos going- or both. Add to that the handful of carparks in the local area where the thousands of people park up and walk to their offices etc.

To use the phrase "redundant roads" to describe this section is ludicrous. I cross it every day when walking up into the city centre for lunch and can promise you it is not quiet or redundant. To make matters worse, they're planning a shared-use path that will run along right in front of the Crown court and the family court, where many people- simply due to the activity that goes on in these building- convene outside on the paths, often just standing about talking, smoking, crying etc... Planning to allow cyclists to zoom through on a shared lane is an awful idea all things considered.

If this is going to go ahead, they should be installing a kerb-protected bike lane on the left of the road between the road and the green area. It should be two-way with a lane divider down the middle. The footpath and the cycle lane need to be seperate here or it will cause some problems I'm certain of that.

It's nice to see some money being spent to make this area look nicer as at the moment it is a bit ex-industrial and grey. It's next to the River Don where the factories and workshops used to be, so is under constant re-development.

I do wish the planners would engage their brains before signing the contracts though....

And if it's a light use road anyway, surely this art won't be seen by any but a small minority? Aren't they basically admitting to throwing money at art on a road nobody uses - what am I missing there?

So many questions, how will narrowing a road, help a bid for a busy transport interchange, without making sure that there is a safe choice for people to cycle to the station rather than drive?

Where is the money coming from ?

Simple way for the Council Leadership to prove the route is safe? Cycle it at peak periods themselves?

If the traffic is very light then there's no problem, go filtered permeability and design in low speeds and your bike use is sorted and the enjoyment of the space improved for others at the same time.

"Coun Leigh Bramall, told The Star […] it would be ‘very cycleable’."

Coun. Bramall does not ride a bike in the city.
As usual, this is a non-cyclist judging what cyclists need.
Or in other words, the councillor has no idea whatsoever about the subject they are discussing.

This is not acceptable. However, this is the norm in road planning.