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AWPR (via YouTube)It’s finally here … Probably the worst cycling event ever hits Aberdeen this weekend
The cycling festival to celebrate the opening of Aberdeen’s new by-pass takes place this weekend – but members of a local cycling forum are shunning the event and will instead be holding a demonstration in the centre of the Granite City to call for safer infrastructure for cyclists.
Transport Scotland has organised the Go North East Road Festival for the coming weekend to celebrate the forthcoming opening of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Road (AWPR).
The event takes place ahead of the road being opened to motor vehicles and will be the only time cyclists will be able to ride any part of the £749 million road – they’ll be banned from it afterwards.
As originally planned, the festival would among other things allow cyclists to ride on a small section of the road – but not on their own bikes, and with access to the site only possible via shuttle bus.
After we posed the question of whether it might be the worst cycling festival ever, organisers decided to let 1,500 cyclists ride a 18-mile stretch on the Sunday morning, with pre-registration required.
> Did the ‘worst cycling event EVER’ just get slightly better?
But because of the lack of numbers of people registering, Mark Beaumont was recruited to drum up support, the round-the-world cyclist getting into a bit of a discussion on Twitter about it.
Meanwhile, as we reported last month, the creation of a bridge over the new road means that cyclists using the popular Deeside Way cycle path now have to ride into oncoming motor traffic to rejoin the route.
Transport Scotland has promised to rectify the situation, but since then, correspondence has emerged showing that it had been told of that missing link in the Deeside Way last year, but had done nothing about it.
And to top it all, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon created confusion in a major speech at Holyrood this week when she claimed the road would open this weekend and was swiftly forced to backtrack on her comments.
“The two parallel universes of the Worst Cycle Event Ever on the AWPR and the disruption to the Deeside Way by the AWPR seem to be coming together this weekend,” local resident and cycle campaigner Carl Gerrard told road.cc.
He won’t be at the festival this weekend – instead, on Sunday lunchtime, he will be among the members of the Aberdeen Cycle Forum staging a protest between noon and 1pm outside Marischal College in the city centre.
“There’s a lot of frustration in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire right now over the lack of infrastructure for cycling,” a post about the protest on the Aberdeen Cycle Forum’s website says.
https://www.aberdeencycleforum.org.uk/?p=1906
“A ton of money has been spent on roads for motor vehicles but this has been to the detriment of active travel.
“We deserve segregated cycling infrastructure so that people of all ages and abilities (including children) can ride bikes safely.
“We want all road building developments – new builds, upgrades and road maintenance projects – to consider cycling during the design phase and for cyclists to be given greater priority.”
The protest is deliberately timed to coincide with this weekend’s festival, and the Aberdeen Cycle Forum post concludes: “If you don’t feel inclined to have a wee token ride on the AWPR within the strict parameters set by the organisers, why not join us instead and send the message that cyclists don’t want to be marginalised or forgotten about when it comes to road transportation.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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16 comments
Politics aside, after deciding that maybe it wasn't going to rain too much, I set off for the event. I only did the 18km ride, so cannot comment on the rest of the Go North East Road Festival. The ride itself was good. 18km of smooth, traffic free and pothole free tarmac. There were all ages and types of bikes on the ride, with a good volume of riders, I expect the earlier bad weather kept some at bay. Hi-Vis jackets were being given away, but they were not compulsory, neither were helmets, although most people were wearing one. Everyone I saw seemed to be having a good time. Lots of families out, as well as club riders. Everyone I saw seemed to be riding at a fairly leisurely pace.
All in all, an enjoyable morning's ride.
Fair enough, but it was a one off, and you can't do it tomorrow or the next day or ever. This road cost £749m and will encourage driving; how much has the same authority spent on encouraging active travel? I haven't checked, but I'd bet money that their policy priorities are cycling, walking and public transport, and I'd also bet that what is spent on those is a fraction of what this road cost.
My comment was based on this being a one off family oriented, closed road cycle ride.
I totally agree with your comment, and could go off on a huge rant about the state of cycling facilities in Aberdeen, which have improved in recent years, although implementation is still often half arsed. But thats a can of worms I dont want to open
So if no cars were on the road, what were the hi viz jackets for?
There was no need to take or wear one. I took one and stuffed it in my jersey pocket - useful to have for driving on the continent, or if I have something overhanging the back of my trailer.
They were branded with the Go AWPR logo.
Aha, put it behind your ear for later then. I hope you can get the logo off.
Can we have some pictures of squirrels at this event please? On or off bikes, I don't care.
Stop squirrel.jpg
Nice pic, but where is the evidence it was at the event?
Did it want a hug or to be picked up perhaps?
He was protesting and trying to stop the "event".
Fair enough, and clearly true. Did it manage to stop the single cyclist who turned up?
I haven't heard back from him yet. Squirrels, enthusiastic but not reliable and easily distracted.
Edit: Recently discovered evidence doesn't look good.
Squirrel.jpg
£749m for a new road, which will just encourage more travel by motor vehicle, increase pollution, congestion, ill health, obesity, and deter active travel. I wonder how much they plan to spend on cycling and walking in Scotland, but I bet it isn't anything like £749m.
A rather similar situation in England, with the West of England Transport plan spending more on a single road junction, about £360m, than on their stated priorities of cycling and walking throughout the entire region for the next 18 years. As a cycle campaigner, I thought we'd won when we got all the local authorities to recognise and prioritise cycling and walking in all their transport policies, but I didn't realise that I'd still have to fight tooth and nail to get them to carry out their own policies, because they just ignore them.
You think that's bad? The SNP government are forever patting themselves on the back here for building the Queensferry crossing bridge. The new bridge has been open for over a year and it's still not finished. Roadworks and tailbacks every night. Oh, and I'm sure the Aberdeen bypass is about 18months late........not the SNP's fault of course. Bunch of tuppeny bit councillors desperate to blame Westminster for all their mistakes.
Disgruntled Scot
It has made it much more pleasant to cycle across the Forth Road Bridge though. Little traffic and best of all - a lot less road noise.
Yes, I quite agree with you although the Scottish taxpayer is now paying for the upkeep of 2 bridges of limited capacity. One which isn't finished and on which is hardly used.