Letter to the Council regarding the section of the Trans-Pennine Trail running through a bus shelter on Chester Road

PH Owens
17 Beech Road
Stockton Heath
Warrington
WA4 6LT
10^th December 2002

Howard Claxton
Traffic Management & Safety Manager
Environment and Regeneration Department
Palmyra House
Palmyra Square North
Warrington
WA1 1JN

RE: CHESTER ROAD - CYCLING ISSUES
Your Ref: E/TMS/GL/OB1
Our Ref: WCC/PHO/CRTPT/001

Dear Mr Claxton,

Thank you for your letter to Chris Mayes of 19^th November 2002 regarding the section of Trans-Pennine Trail running through a bus shelter on Chester Road. Chris has passed on your letter to me, as I am more familiar with the "facility".

We recently addressed this issue in a report on Chester Road, and in particular the suggestion that a wheeling ramp should be provided down to the pedestrian section of the trail. This can be found on our web site: http://www.warringtoncyclecampaign.co.uk/report/chester-road.htm#TPT The ideal solution would be for a causeway or bridge to be built across Walton Lock by the allotments so that the Trans-Pennine Trail would not need to cross Chester Road at all.

It should be noted that the photograph does not just show a family of cyclists passing through a bus shelter, but that the bus shelter was occupied by a child at the time and the family did not stop, but squeezed past within inches of the kerb. The family would have been much safer had they been riding on the road. The council should not encourage such reckless behaviour by designating the pavement for shared use.

I understand and share the desire to make to make the Trans-Pennine Trail route continuous. However, in order to make the trail continuous it is necessary to physically construct a continuous route - not to give the misleading impression that one exists by directing cyclists to ride in inappropriate places. Cycling on the pavement is quite rightly illegal, because it is unsafe, and it does not magically become safe simply because of some blue signs. The bus shelter is not the only hazard on this stretch of the route. The pavement is not wide enough for cyclists to turn from the pedestrian crossing. The route is obstructed by lampposts and the control box for the pedestrian crossing. The arrangement for cyclists to cross and join Taylor Street is unsafe as cyclists are heading downhill and cross at a point that is out of sight to motorists turning from Chester Road. These dangers are particularly serious on a route that is expected to be used by young and inexperienced cyclists who may not be as competent at control or braking as a skilled adult rider. All this should have been noticed when the scheme was subjected to a cycle audit at the design stage.

Given that this pavement is unsuitable for cycling, our view is that you should adopt your simple solution of removing all signs and markings indicating shared-use, and direct cyclists to ride on the road.

The use of cyclist dismount signs merely demonstrates that a cycle facility is unfit for its intended purpose, so should never have been designated as such in the first place. Cyclists always have the option of dismounting and pushing along the pavement if they don't feel confident in any case.

Yours sincerely

Pete Owens
For the Warrington Cycle Campaign

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