Two Tunnels route branded 'dangerous' in ITV report

How did this story get reopened? Its seven years old!

One advantage of a tunnel is that sound propagates along it very easily so pedestrians can be aware of cyclists approaching from behind.  However when I went through, the central part had a system installed that projected some ungodly racket that someone had the temerity to call "music" and which was an utterly idiotic disregard of health & safety

I think shared paths in this instance is just an accident waiting to happen. Rather bold statement as I have not used these tunnels but there is always some prat (cyclist, runner or pedestrian) with the its my bit of pathway and I'm not moving mentality!
Then there's toddlers and children who don't know any better, especially if they have one of the aforementioned prats as a parent!!

The Strawberry Line Shute Shelve tunnel has been lit since it opened, I think, but it's only old LEDs up the middle of the floor and they don't always activate, so it's a good idea to take some lights.

The two tunnels are virtually floodlit. The tunnel on the Bristol to Bath path was completely unlit for years, it was a bit like the ghost train at Blackpool going through there. When it first opened, the path surface was also just chippings, it was a challenge to stay on your bike all the way through. You had to aim at the little half circle of light at the end and hope for the best.

The nearby Strawberry Line tunnel was still unlit last time I did it a year ago, very dangerous. One of our group was disoriented in there and went into the side of the tunnel, came off, damaged her shoulder. Talking to others who stopped to help, it happens all the time.

Typical lazy Daily Mail style 'evidence free' piece. Been through it a couple of times myself on bike and foot and everyone seemed to be going about their business just fine.

There are lots of idiotic Strava segments through the tunnels. Mostly repeating and overlapping each other.

I think a little bit of advisory signage might be a good thing, but you have to bear in mind that half the people there are a bit dim even before they go into the tunnels.

Looks like the lighting is much brighter than the Shute Shelve tunnel - but that would mean leaving the cities to do a report on cycling and ITV won't do that!

Fuss about nothing. The tunnels are better lit than the rest of the route would be after dark.

ITV West News had little credibility before this report. Now it has even less.

You don't need lights in the tunnels -the lighting is adequate whether cycling or walking.
The only lighting problem is the cyclists who insist on using their retina burning lights sometimes in disco strobe mode.
Otherwise the tunnels are brilliant - hats off to Sustrans (and Victorian railway navvies).

Im pretty sure that by commenting on my frustration I am doing exactly what the journo wants. I reckon it was a slow news day and sunny outside and she thought....How can I make up an excuse to go out on my bike? - Pretty much what we all do most days

I've been through these tunnels many dozens of times and have 'only' experienced 3 incidents. 1 middle aged un svelt lycra bulging knob on a road bike squeezing through a gap between me and a wobbly 3yrd old (not mine)and 2 cases of oncoming lights so bright that nobody could see anything else. As Dave said in the article there's nothing inherently unsafe about the tunnels. The lighting is absolutely fine - I'm not aware of possessing any super powers but I can see unlit black clad pedestrians from way off.
Vaguely enlightened viewers will find it hard to accept a safety message from someone stopped on a thoroughfare under a dazzling light without their safety helmet on properly.

She wants to try descending in the Alps, where you suddenly plunge into a unlit tunnel from bright sunshine. Almost blind for a few moments. And that's with cars coming the other way as well.

Also I would expect that the tunnels have more light than a country lane in the middle of the night.

I wish media crews would actually send sensible people with experience of cycling rather than silly types who have never been on a bike since childhood

I've had to flag a few strava segments - not something I normally do, but I think it's best if we don't have anyone cycling "furiously" in a dark tunnel. I don't think I'm the only one - they seem to disappear fairly quickly.

If they are that worried about it why don’t they tell the council to put better lights in so it’s bright enough to see where you are going, have been or are about to crash in to? As for worrying the bats they are blind so you could strap a couple of those stadium floodlights all the way along it and get a suntan on your way through (I know they are not before you start and that the frequency/sound of the lights would interfere with their hearing).

Tunnels are fun. I haven't ridden those but Rotherhithe Tunnel under the Thames was particularly memorable: drafting a Porsche Boxster who only pulled away on the slope out...
http://www.mobypicture.com/user/IHphoto/view/12824344

the lighting is only as dime as the reporter.......

All those runners with no lights, no insurance, bet they don't even pay tunnel tax.

Banning dogs from the tunnel may be a start.

This article was probably commissioned before the tunnels even opened. Journalists like to keep us on our toes. Based on this morning's 'Today' programme I'm hopeful bird flu will kill me before my endowment shortfall is exposed.

I've done the Two Tunnels a few times (so to speak) and the biggest problem is road bikers, who overtake at speed. The lighting is good, but it takes time for your eyes to adjust to it, even if you have got a lighthouse lamp attached to the front of your bike. Add to this the fact that it's used by families with wobbly kids and it's only a matter of time before a roadie careers into a clueless five year old.

Like Dave I try to keep a steady pace through the tunnels - about 10-12 mph - but I don't go hell-for-leather. I was overtaken in the longer tunnel by a couple of roadies the other day and I shouted "Slow down!" at them, and was met by a bunch of lewd jeering echoing down the tunnels. It just pissed me off to be honest - the tunnels are so enjoyable, and such a well-made piece of cycling infrastructure that it makes me want to slow down to appreciate and admire it. All it would take is one nasty accident for them to be closed forever by some health and safety jobsworth.

I realise that this kind of makes me akin to an elderly lady who complains about cyclists doing "50mph" on the pavement, but I'd rather people didn't ride like twats because it could just ruin it for everyone.

Having ridden through them with hundreds of other people on the gloriously sunny launch day a few weeks back, I can honestly say that the lighting in the Two Tunnels is some of the best I've ever seen. It's even, it's perfectly distributed to where you need it most, and it gives the tunnels an amazing atmosphere. A bit of unlit video footage doesn't convey how good the lighting is at all.

The only problems are people riding the other way with their Deal Extreme specials on strobe mode.

Like the Bristol-Bath Path, it's a massive cycling success story, which means that local news teams have to think up trumped-up reasons to rubbish it. Look at the amount of coverage a single collision on the BBRP received last year.

The lighting in the tunnel may be dim, but it probably never gets anything like as dark as many ordinary shared-use paths after sundown.

I often cycle after dark on a shared-use towpath that has no lighting whatsoever, and I'm sure that's a more common hazard and one more worth worrying about. As ever with shared use paths, a bit of consideration goes a long way - I'm fairly good at staying alert and spotting joggers, dogs and oncoming cyclists in good time, but lights and reflective material help (especially with the dogs - small fast-moving black dogs on black asphalt backgrounds on a dark night are really not that easy to pick out with ordinary bike lights.)

I had an unfortunate experience on a shared-use path yesterday. I was sticking to my own side of the path, and I could see a family of four 100 yards ahead of me. Their alert little four-year-old was looking well up the path for oncoming traffic, and he swung smartly back onto his own side of the path when he saw me approach. I wanted to give him a medal, and I passed the family expecting to hear him being complimented on his excellent road sense, but his dopey big brother and his dopey parents hadn't been looking ahead up the path and anticipating, so all three of them came close to rear-ending the little boy when he moved in. They were all cursing him angrily for moving back to his own side when I caught up with them.

Not only is it dangerous but it's subversive as well. I mean fancy getting from A to B without using a car and god forbid! enjoying yourself as well.

I suggest a sign, one that's a white circle with a red border and the number 10 in it should get the message across. Now if only we already made signs like that for another purpose.

{for the pedants, yes an advisory rather than an actual speed limit sign would be better, especially since it only needs to be advisory}