Thousands of cyclists have made trips across a new linking bridge in Devon, prompting planners to deem it a huge success.
The Town Quay Bridge linking Newton Abbot and Kingsteignton opened last month and has already been cycled over 3000 times, with 1,300 of those in the first week.
The bridge is the centre piece of the new £3 million Teign Estuary Trail, which was funded to the tune of £500,000 by Sustrans, as part of the charity’s Connect 2 project to create new cycling and walking links across the UK with funding from the Big Lottery. The route will eventually link up with other strands of the National Cycle Network.
Councillor Brook told Devon News Centre: “Local businesses can benefit from this new trail, not only because it will help tackle congestion, but because it will also attract visitors to the area. People travelling between Newton Abbot and Kingsteignton now have a safe, traffic-free option to cycle or walk between the two communities. Hopefully more and more people will use this route, not just for commuting or travelling to school, but also in their leisure time.”
Councillor Stuart Hughes, Devon County Council Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation, said: “The amount of people using the trail and bridge speaks volumes and it has already highlighted its value to the local community. For anyone living in Kingsteignton, it is now much quicker and healthier to use a bike rather than a car to reach Brunel Industrial Estate or the railway station. This is another impressive addition to Devon’s growing network of routes which demonstrates that we truly are a cycling county.”
The bridge, which cost £1.1 million to design and build, will now be the focus of local cycling campaigns. A public celebration of cycling and walking on the new route is also being planned for Sunday 5 May with a variety of activities, walks and rides on offer.
He wasn't brake-checking me, he was trying to get me to stop. Nothing good would have come from me stopping.
It was designed around 28mm tyres but there's lots of clearance and could certainly take bigger tyres.
A dinosaur version is shurely for the kiddies. Myself I'd like The Hindenburg. There may be The Freisian, filled with methane rather than hydrogen,...
No evidence on the video of any interaction between themselves and the cyclist so possibly they simply didn't get the reg number?
When I see SLOW HORSES I always think ah, so this is where the ones I bet on are kept...
The proximity to the Transport Research Labs at Crowthorne means that the area often gets weird new stuff.
No great mystery in either case, surely? Both US politician and the motor trade say "choose us and your life will be better and easier!" And other...
theres an attitude I encounter alot locally, and demonstrated in bucket loads by drivers on my commute home tonight, that cyclists shouldnt be on...
If the chains snap that is lack of build quality or material.....
"Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good."