The utility cyclist wrote:Please highlight the 'track' you re talking about, long train, define what you mean by that?
One bit of tarmac might be fine for one person but not for another or group, maybe the motorists should be using the MOTORway to get to their destination, afterall we pay billions for them to be built and maintained so they should really be using them or what's the point in having them
I'm from Hull originally and pretty much none of the so called cycle lanes/tracks around the city are remotely suitable for most people to easily and safely to get about, this is why cycling has dropped to ridiculously low levels for a city that is very concentrated and flat as a pancake and had very high levels of cycling for transport even by the mid 80s.
Cycle lanes are crap, I've not seen a single one across the country that I would deem adequate as a 'way that allows safe, connected, easy use that caters for the masses/cyclists of all types, abilities and speeds to use at the same time.
Taking back the highway away from motorists is the best solution by a country mile, inexpensive, immediate, connected/direct from all locations, wide.
Sure, the track is the link between Leven and Tickton, 3 miles of virtually new (2015 i believe) cycle path, by long train i mean at least a dozen vehicles, it's a busy stretch of road and crossing it is hard enough nevermind overtaking.
I get that non locals wouldn't know about it, but it's a stretch of road that i wouldn't even contemplate cycling on knowing that the track is there.
I totally understand where you are coming from, high quality cycle tracks seem to be few and far between and there are plenty that i would happily avoid and cycle on the road.
The point i was trying to make was that there is little incentive for councils to build these tracks and maintain them if there's a good chance that they won't even be used.
As cyclists it should be a case of 'if you build them we will come' not 'if you build them we'll think about maybe using them but not if it drops our average speed down'
I am more of a leisure cyclist than a speedster, sometimes i get my head down, so would happily use them, but yes they need to be well maintained.
Rather than taking back the roads, i'd rather have all new and fully resurfaced roads to have dedicated segregated tracks, all the A roads around me (Bridlington) have the space for this.