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Cyclist crashes on new Leeds-Bradford route due to missing manhole cover

New cycle superhighway has been strongly criticised by campaigners

A cyclist has crashed on the £18m Leeds-Bradford cycle superhighway due to a missing manhole cover in the middle of the lane. Stuart Town was cycling alongside Stanningley Road through Bramley on Sunday when he hit an open hole in the ground near the junction with Cockshott Lane.

Ryan Mallinson tweeted a photo of what caused his friend to fall.

 

 

Town said that he found the cover a little way down the road and replaced it himself.

A spokesperson for City Connect, the body in charge of delivering the government-funded scheme, told us: "We have reported it to UTC as it's their chamber. They will replace it.  We don’t know when it was taken or who by."

Yesterday, we reported that the £18m route, paid for by government Cycle City Ambition Fund money, has proven a disappointment for local campaigners.

Just 75cm wide in places and with cyclists obliged to give way at every side road, the route has been condemned as “hazardous” by some, with Cycling UK moved to say that its layout represents a compelling case for national design standards.

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14 comments

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JeevesBath | 8 years ago
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My sympathy if this is genuine, BUT but this looks like a dodgy set-up to me to generate a bit of negative press. Why no photos of the injury? If it was so bad, surely you'd have some evidence for the injury claim. And as said, you really would have to be very unobservent not to see that hole.... it must be visible from a good way back.

If it was revealed that cyclists were staging accidents to generate bad press it would just give more fuel to the rabid Street-Porters.

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Butty | 8 years ago
1 like

On another point, how do you easily activate the crossing button while still on a bike and without losing your front wheel to passing traffic?

Little things count to users, but I presume that no-one on the layout team has ever cycled?

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HarrogateSpa | 8 years ago
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Are you sure that the cycle route gives way at every side road? That certainly isn't what was in the plans.

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Silver Rider replied to HarrogateSpa | 8 years ago
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HarrogateSpa wrote:

Are you sure that the cycle route gives way at every side road? That certainly isn't what was in the plans.

Like other cycle schemes in Leeds, once the approving nod had been received from local cycle campaign groups it went back to the drawing board and changes were made to relegate cyclists to the same status as pedestrians at junctions.  They even appear to give priority to business driveways and little-used substation access on some parts.  An expensive joke, and I'm already getting shouted out for not using it when it's still incomplete and unrideable.  Not sure I'll be staying in this city much longer,  it's run by underachieving dunces.  At least screwing up the Supertram scheme might have been a blessing for cyclists.

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robertoegg | 8 years ago
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Probably looking at The Shard...

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Rdpearsonuk | 8 years ago
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Downright dangerous whether it's on a cycle path or a footpath. I hope the lads OK and recovers and we can be thankfully her wasn't flung into the path of a bus like a ragdoll. But, this is still a sizeable hole that you should be seeing at any reasonable speed.

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bendertherobot | 8 years ago
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Dunno about everyone else but I have a specsavers banner playing at the top of this piece

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fenix | 8 years ago
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Shouldn't happen but how did he not see that missing? Its probably Janet Street Porters supporters who have removed the cover  3

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Mungecrundle replied to fenix | 8 years ago
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fenix wrote:

Shouldn't happen but how did he not see that missing? Its probably Janet Street Porters supporters who have removed the cover  3

 

Maybe they thought she had dropped her gum shield?

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Al__S replied to fenix | 8 years ago
1 like
fenix wrote:

Shouldn't happen but how did he not see that missing? Its probably Janet Street Porters supporters who have removed the cover  3

Approaching the junction, looking around rather than down at the surface?

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Janitor | 8 years ago
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They've made a huge mess of this. The cycle lane is too thin in places, stops at all junctions and randomly rejoins the road and then starts again without warning creating a hazard for cars. They've created "continental" mini roundabouts which aren't very visible and totally confused all road users as they looked unfinished.

It's a massive disappointment and has created a huge wave of bad feeling towards cyclists despite them having nothing to do with it.

Ironically it was also my fastest cycling route to work before the work commenced. Now I take a totally different route which is faster and safer.

It's a shame that something that should have been a flagship development has been so poorly designed and implemented. Hopefully despite all this it'll still attract more people to cycle to work but it feels like a missed opportunity.

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pockstone | 8 years ago
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Thank God for that! Another couple of yards and he'd have been taking his life in his hands crossing that junction.

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Yorkshire wallet | 8 years ago
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Straight to injurylawers4u if that was me.

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1961BikiE | 8 years ago
1 like

Hope the lads OK. Being near to the junction hopefully he wasn't going too fast though I'm sure it was bad enough for him. Hit at speed this could have led to very serious injury at the very least. Get will soon fella.

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