Today, an English council came under fire for closing a road for a month to install what critics called a “glorified lay-by”—a 20-foot cycling lane.
Stoke-on-Kidsgrove Trent’s neighbourhood’s new lane was overseen by Staffordshire County Council.
The brief path is the first in the area and includes space for cycling traffic in both directions.
However, a local pensioner criticized the feeble effort to attract people to ride bikes, saying the brief section of protected road is “essentially just a lay-by.”
‘They blocked that road down for about four or five weeks, and that is what they put up,’ recalled Bill Priddin, 73.
It is merely a matter of 20 feet.
If their goal is to encourage people to ride bicycles, they are not succeeding very well.
“I just think it’s funny,”
David Holland, a 50-year-old neighbour, called the trail “pointless.”
I don’t understand the purpose of it, he remarked. Even if people were aware of its existence, they wouldn’t use it.
The area needs cycle paths, but our roads aren’t broad enough for them. It is a waste of money because cyclists simply utilize the roads regardless.
However, David Williams, cabinet member for transportation and highways at Staffordshire County Council, defended the plan as an effort to increase cycling security.
“The new segment of cycleway that crosses Heathcote Street supplies the missing link of the National Cycleway Network (NCN) 5 and gives people a more direct and secure path to cycle around the town,” he said.
“The upgrades come after alterations to the neighbouring intersection, which are a part of larger initiatives to improve the area’s air quality.”