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Council to prioritise maintenance of minor road network used by cyclists

Posted: 19 Jul 2020, 8:37am
by ChrisButch
Is this a first?

A county highways authority (Devon) has announced that the majority of its additional government funding for road maintenance will be spent on the minor rural roads used by cyclists.

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/strava-used-identify-popular-devon-4308999

'Strava is set to be used by Devon County Council to decide where some of the additional £27m of spending on Devon’s roads will be allocated.

'The £58m total is the largest ever annual investment in Devon’s Road Network, with smaller and unclassified roads receiving the majority of the extra cash.

'And the extra spending will go towards roads that are used by cyclists or walkers...

'" the funding will be invaluable in enabling high-usage routes to be safe, properly maintained, and appropriate for active travel, like walking or cycling. We need to ensure the shift in active travel is underpinned in well maintained services and routes.”...

'Meg Booth, chief officer for highways.... said that "in proportion, Devon didn’t have that many [segregated] cycle ways and that a lot of active travel takes place on the more rural roads. We are making a huge investment in the non-classified roads and that is where the majority of cycling at the moment happens... . The focus is on the rural network that is used by cyclists,” adding that the council was working with Strava to get data on roads that are popular with cyclists.'

Amid all the fuss over pop-up cycle lanes, etc, a little puff of positive fresh air here. (Only a little puff, as the sums involved are hardly game-changing - but it's the attitude which is significant). And whatever you may think of Stravamania, using Strava data is surely a step up from car-conditioned highways officers simply making assumptions about which roads are important to cyclists.

Re: Council to prioritise maintenance of minor road network used by cyclists

Posted: 19 Jul 2020, 9:47am
by Graham
Hopefully, the clear effect of the above will be to :-
"Reward people for choosing to travel by bicycle".

Also, walkers, runners and horseriders.

Whatever, the easy words and good intentions from those making decisions and holding the purse strings, the current message at all levels remains :-
- You are subordinate to those using motor vehicles
- You will just have to put up with the latent danger, pollution, noise, poor-quality facilities, overgrown vegetation, litter, because there are only crumbs left over.

Hope for the best & plan for the worst. . . . but . . . "Predict & Provide [for motor vehicle transport]" is still predominant.

There may be trouble ahead, unless society faces up to the environmental cost of "travel" . . .

Re: Council to prioritise maintenance of minor road network used by cyclists

Posted: 19 Jul 2020, 6:15pm
by mjr
It's not the first to say they'll do it.

Maybe it'll be the first to actually do it!