Cycling campaigners in Chester win battle to improve safety at new bus interchange

Cycling campaigners in Chester have won a long-fought battle to have the road layout altered at the city’s bus interchange following fears that it posed a safety risk to riders after opening in June 2017.

Cheshire Live reports that members of Chester Cycling Campaign had been concerned that once they came off a shared use path, a designated cycle route took them into the path of oncoming traffic on George Street.

After the group pressure on Cheshire West & Chester (CW&C) Council, proper markings have now been added to the advisory cycle lane on the street together with direction arrows to make it clear that cyclists are allowed to travel in that direction.

The campaign group’s secretary, Stephen Perry, secretary of the Chester Cycling Campaign, commented: “Once Andrew Coward, CW&C principal engineer highways, was given the task to address this he has been a great help. We really appreciate his support in this and other highway matters.”

Previously, a sign asked cyclists to rejoin the main carriageway at a point where they would be faced with oncoming vehicles, with many motorists thought to be unaware that the previously one-way street is now bi-directional.

Chester Cycling Campaign’s Craig Steeland said: “With the canal towpath closed, cyclists have had to use Gorse Stacks as an alternative route which was dangerous due to poor lane marking.

“Cyclists have had to decide whether to break the law and cycle further along the pavement than the cycle route allows, or follow the instructions on the sign, join the carriageway and try to wave any approaching traffic out of their way and into the correct lane,” he added.

Yesterday, we reported how a cyclist in Plymouth had complained to police and the council because of motorists parking in a contraflow cycle lane, effectively rendering it useless and meaning that riders had to move out into the path of traffic coming the other way.

Our story prompted road.cc readers from around the country to provide examples from where they live – including one in Belfast which is used illegally as a cab rank by taxi drivers.