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3ft Please jersey UKTransport secretary says £100 million set aside for "cycle-proofing"
Transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin says that 200 sections of road in England are to be “cycle-proofed” in a bid to reduce the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured in road traffic incidents.
According to Graeme Patton, transport correspondent at The Times, the works, which will be carried out over the next six years, will see the creation of more segregated cycle lanes, cyclist-friendly junctions, and places where bike riders can cross the road safely.
Mr McLoughlin, Conservative MP for Derbyshire Dales, also said that “cycle-proofing” would be an integral part of future major road-building initiatives on the country’s major road network.
He said: “Any road scheme has to have cyclists in mind. In fairness, that’s the easiest time to do it. That’s the time when you have got to start thinking of cycling lanes.”
But he acknowledged that the Highways Agency had not served cyclists properly in the past, and that road engineers had not been “used to cycle-proofing things because it wasn’t an issue; it hasn’t been looked at.”
According to The Times, some £100 million will be set aside for the works, which will take place between 2015 and 2021, with the money coming from the £15.2 billion budget for the Roads Improvement Strategy.
That represents less than 1 per cent of the total being spent on the country’s roads under the strategy.
While other money is being spent on cycling – notably the £114 million awarded to eight cities under the second wave of the Cycle City Ambition initiative – the combined total will still be well below the minimum spend on cycling of £10 per person per year cycling organisations such as British Cycling, CTC and Sustrans are seeking.
Yesterday, however, they welcomed the government’s incorporation into the Infrastructure Bill of an amendment tabled by Dr Julian Huppert, the Liberal Democrat MP for Cambridge and co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group.
Under that amendment, the Department for Transport will be obliged to set targets and investment for cycling and walking, a move described as “a massive step in the right direction” by British Cycling policy adviser, Chris Boardman.
The Times says that schemes included in the investment announced by Mr McLoughlin include a £1.8 million project on main roads in the Suffolk port of Lowestoft, and a crossing at the A38 in Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, which will cost £460,000.
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.
Latest Comments
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Inhumane system that now will be getting even worse.
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That is class news. Super bikes and vision. Bet there will be no stand at the Taiwan bike show next year! Big luck to all the team
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Pretty clearly stated several times in the text that the issue was not related just to his son. And besides, everybody watching the races could see...
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16 comments
Need to think big and far into the future for UK if they take cycling seriously.
Whole new infrastructure is needed for cyclists than just some paint. I really dream of us riding in the sky in London to show the rest of the world London is the capital of the future.
What we have a the moment is totally inadequate that I can't see myself let my kids or my wife ride in London unless I have them join the Prudential ride events but that's only once a year.
200 "sections" over 6 years? so about 33 "sections" a year?
Over the thousands and thousands of miles of dangerous road in the country?
Well, aiming for the worst of the killing and maiming blackspots is a start.
But…
It's not enough.
Also, to what standards will the "cycle-proofing" be? Is this going to be an exercise in painting lines on the road (the "do not bother sweeping this area" markers for the council) or will there be an approach more CROW-like?
I suspect £100m is about to be wasted by designers who don't know what they are doing, or care what it is for.
Is there a list of the 200 road sections anywhere?
Wondered if any are local to me. I can think a few but can't say I'm expecting to see them listed.
Yes please road.cc can you find the detail?
The roads are perfectly good, a few legal changes, strict liability for example, and a requirement for new cars and existing commercial vehicles and those over 2T or 100BHP/T to be fitted with active collision avoidance and mitigation systems would cost little and save thousands of lives.
What is unacceptable is that more than 10 people die on our roads each year.
The roads don't FEEL safe - that's why people don't ride. Even if you add more laws or sensors to vehicles, the proximity of fast-moving motor vehicles still won't feel safe enough to encourage more people to cycle for transport on short journeys.
A couple of schemes covering Leatherhead, and a shared useage path around the new bridge and surrounding area in Walton-On-Thames is ~£1.6M.
By comparison, announced today Camden Council's approval for £41M to be spent on Tottenham Court Road - about 1km - (nr the new Crossrail station in London) to improve/green up the area, make it dual direction for busses and closed to other vehicles in daylight hours - which should be a big improvement. Cities for people, n all that.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-30947651
£100M is taking the mickey.
If you try and correlate use with expenditure.
http://road.cc/content/news/85927-cyclists-make-quarter-london-traffic-o...
You could argue quite easily that FAR more money needs to be spent on infrastructure for cyclists.
Even using the 2% of journeys figure, which I believe is the national modal share would suggest the correct level of funding should be vastly higher.
He STILL doesn't really get it, does he? Nobody is campaigning for "cycle lanes" - paint does not provide safe, inviting space for cycling.
At this point I'll settle for anything, lanes are infinitely better than what we have around here at the moment.
On my 12 mile commute I have less than 100 metres of proper cycle lane, the rest of the way is on rural roads with speed limits between 40 & 60mph where the road is often wide enough to have a decent cycle lane, but instead the councils insist on filling the rest of the space with chevrons down the centre which then discourages cars from moving over when they pass you as they don't want to cross into the chevrons. if I don't cycle far out into the lane (2.5m or so) thus forcing cars onto the chevrons, they try and squeeze past with literally inches to spare (bearing in mind this is on national speed limit roads) just so they remain in the lane. At least a cycle lane would force them to give me the space I need without drivers having to think about how much space I need.
Plus, painted lanes are also better than shared pavements. We are having a new road built near my house and I have already been informed this is a shared pavement, so instead of a 1.5m cycle lane, cyclists will have to share a 2m path which will doubtless have hordes of teenagers walking 4 abreast with no regard for the cycle lane. I'll be sticking to the road in this case where there is still not even a bit of paint.
As for making roads feel safer, change the law so people aren't allowed to take their company van/pickup home with them at the end of the day (plus this will make some of these new estates look a little nicer, it looks awful when all you see are a sea of transits and navara's) and ban tank sized 4x4's and people carriers. Without these things hurtling past you all the time perhaps you'll feel a little safer.
Not even 1% of a single year's road budget spread over 6 years. This doesn't qualify as scraps off the table, it's more like the crumbs that fell on the floor.
£100m is a rounding error. Worse than nothing as it makes getting real funding harder!
Wow, thanks!
1/150th of the roads improvement budget, how generous.
This isn't even crumbs.
don simon said:
I think what people really mean is cycle proving!
http://www.steerdaviesgleave.com/news-and-insights/cycle-proving
So the minister wishes to make the roads impenetrable or resistent to cycles then?
Unfortunate name or clever ploy?
He said: “Any road scheme has to have cyclists in mind. In fairness, that’s the easiest time to do it. That’s the time when you have got to start thinking of cycling lanes.”
A long overdue correction. It going to take more than £100m though.
So 200 £500K projects over 6 years...not enough by a long way
£100m would buy you 3.5 miles of motorway (£30m a mile on average)