“Higgledy-piggledy”, “crooked”, and “wonky” were some of the words used by locals to describe a new cycle lane in Manchester, which cost £13.4 million and is a significant part of the region’s Bee Network with 1,800 miles of cycling and walking routes. However, while some cyclists left disappointed at the “dreadful workmanship”, others reserved some praise for the Cyclops junction to which the bike lane leads to.

Plans for the Chorlton-Cum-Hardy cycle path were unveiled in November 2018, with the five kilometres of segregated Dutch-style infrastructure running along Barlow Moor Road, Manchester Road, Upper Chorlton Road and Chorlton Road.

The route had proved to be extremely popular with Greater Manchester cyclists as well as local residents at the consultation stage, with 73 per cent of respondents expressing their support for the scheme. However, issues started to rise up as construction for the ambitious project dragged on.

The construction for the cycle lane started a year ago, and was expected to wrap up by September 2023. However, the council pushed forward the completion date to 22 December, leading to an uproar from businesses in the area who claimed that the project was threatening to jeopardise their festive trade and essentially “ruin Christmas”.

And after even more delays, while the Cyclops junction, a flagship part of the infrastructure, is now open, the route connecting it along Barlow Moor Road is what has angered locals and cyclists alike.

The separators for the bike lane look horribly misaligned, and there are still several pedestrian barriers blocking the route from any meaningful usage.
One cyclist said on Facebook: “If you raise the kerbs and put objects in the way of cycles it's more dangerous as we have no way to get out the way if there is a car coming for you”, while another added: “The wonkyness is representative of the ‘love’ (not) gone into them — the lack of education around people using bikes and the road.”

Another cyclist said: “Dreadful workmanship, proper boneshaker path that, no wonder some cyclists use roads instead,” while a fourth added: “Waste of money, better have spent the monies on repairing potholes and overall surface with cycling lines and armadillos to separate cyclists from vehicles.”

John Hacking, Manchester City’s Labour Councillor from Chorlton, posted in the same Facebook group (link is external): “We support the building of the cycleway and welcome the investment into the local area. We also support the ambition to make the roads safer for people of all ages to cycle on to reduce car use in the city. It’s important to note that this money from the Mayor’s Challenge Fund was ringfenced for this purpose and could not have been used for any other use such as council services, road improvements or fixing potholes.

“We expect the scheme to be finished to the highest possible standards and have continually sought to try and ensure that happens. Throughout the project we have had regular meetings and held the team to account and demanded answers for delays and poor work. When people contacted us via emails or at surgeries we followed up on their concerns.

“We know that it has taken longer than expected and that this has caused understandable frustration (which we share). The contractors have faced some unavoidable challenges along the way including sinkholes, gas leaks, drainage issues and unexpected underground infrastructure. Equally there are things that could and should have been done better.

“The cycleway is due to be completed imminently and we want a first-class scheme so that our original ambitions can be met.”

Hacking added that all the concerns about the poor standard of the tarmacking had been raised with the council, and that paving machines will be sent to the site to rectify the poor areas with a site visit from the Highway officers due this week.

A local resident commented under the councillor’s post: “This scheme is only good or excellent in parts, and many areas I would describe as poor. There are many areas, the new non-existent separation between bikes and cars in front of Coriander et al being a prime example, where money has been spent for neither the benefit of cyclists, motorists or pedestrians. I won’t even mention the stretch where the cycle lane will just disappear!

“Hopefully the surfacing will be remedied as that is one thing that has been consistently bad but has been repeatedly signed off as acceptable by the council. I look forward to both its completion and the building of more interconnecting protected cycle lanes but hope that the lessons learnt in this build will be taken on board for future.”

However, the Cyclops junction appears to have received a warmer reception, with people commending the layout as “intuitive” and “giving new riders the confidence to mix with heavy traffic”.

https://road.cc/content/news/locals-slam-wonky-cycle-lane-misaligned-separators-306795

On 18/02/2024 08:06, Simon Mason wrote:

> “Higgledy-piggledy”, “crooked”, and “wonky” were some of the words used by locals to describe a new chav-cycle lane in Manchester, which cost £13.4 million and is a significant part of the region’s Bee Network with 1,800 miles of chav-cycling and walking routes. However, while some chav-cyclists left disappointed at the “dreadful workmanship”, others reserved some praise for the Cyclops junction to which the chav-bike lane leads to.

"..to which the chav-bike lane leads to"?

More evidence of road.cc's semi-literacy (at best).
>
> Plans for the Chorlton-Cum-Hardy chav-cycle path were unveiled in November 2018, with the five kilometres of segregated Dutch-style infrastructure running along Barlow Moor Road, Manchester Road, Upper Chorlton Road and Chorlton Road.
>
> The route had proved to be extremely popular with Greater Manchester chav-cyclists as well as local residents at the consultation stage, with 73 per cent of respondents expressing their support for the scheme. However, issues started to rise up as construction for the ambitious project dragged on.
>
> The construction for the chav-cycle lane started a year ago, and was expected to wrap up by September 2023. However, the council pushed forward the completion date to 22 December, leading to an uproar from businesses in the area who claimed that the project was threatening to jeopardise their festive trade and essentially “ruin Christmas”.
>
> And after even more delays, while the Cyclops junction, a flagship part of the infrastructure, is now open, the route connecting it along Barlow Moor Road is what has angered locals and chav-cyclists alike.
>
> The separators for the chav-bike lane look horribly misaligned, and there are still several pedestrian barriers blocking the route from any meaningful usage.

> One chav-cyclist said on Facebook: “If you raise the kerbs and put objects in the way of chav-cycles it's more dangerous as we have no way to get out the way if there is a car coming for you”, while another added: “The wonkyness is representative of the ‘love’ (not) gone into them — the lack of education around people using chav-bikes and the road.”
>
> Another chav-cyclist said: “Dreadful workmanship, proper boneshaker path that, no wonder some cyclists use roads instead,” while a fourth added: “Waste of money, better have spent the monies on repairing potholes and overall surface with cycling lines and armadillos to separate cyclists from vehicles.”
>
> John Hacking, Manchester City’s Labour Councillor from Chorlton, posted in the same Facebook group (link is external): “We support the building of the chav-cycleway and welcome the investment into the local area. We also support the ambition to make the roads safer for people of all ages to cycle on to reduce car use in the city. It’s important to note that this money from the Mayor’s Challenge Fund was ringfenced for this purpose and could not have been used for any other use such as council services, road improvements or fixing potholes.
>
> “We expect the scheme to be finished to the highest possible standards and have continually sought to try and ensure that happens. Throughout the project we have had regular meetings and held the team to account and demanded answers for delays and poor work. When people contacted us via emails or at surgeries we followed up on their concerns.
>
> “We know that it has taken longer than expected and that this has caused understandable frustration (which we share). The contractors have faced some unavoidable challenges along the way including sinkholes, gas leaks, drainage issues and unexpected underground infrastructure. Equally there are things that could and should have been done better.
>
> “The chav-cycleway is due to be completed imminently and we want a first-class scheme so that our original ambitions can be met.”
>
> Hacking added that all the concerns about the poor standard of the tarmacking had been raised with the council, and that paving machines will be sent to the site to rectify the poor areas with a site visit from the Highway officers due this week.
>
> A local resident commented under the councillor’s post: “This scheme is only good or excellent in parts, and many areas I would describe as poor. There are many areas, the new non-existent separation between chav-bikes and cars in front of Coriander et al being a prime example, where money has been spent for neither the benefit of chav-cyclists, motorists or pedestrians. I won’t even mention the stretch where the chav-cycle lane will just disappear!
>
> “Hopefully the surfacing will be remedied as that is one thing that has been consistently bad but has been repeatedly signed off as acceptable by the council. I look forward to both its completion and the building of more interconnecting protected chav-cycle lanes but hope that the lessons learnt in this build will be taken on board for future.”
>
> However, the Cyclops junction appears to have received a warmer reception, with people commending the layout as “intuitive” and “giving new chav-cyclists the confidence to mix with heavy traffic”.
>
>
> https://road.cc/content/news/locals-slam-wonky-cycle-lane-misaligned-separators-306795
>

stonojnr wrote:

Not sure what the problem is,people realise roads aren't perfectly square and have undulations right ? But there you go, must be nice to have some dedicated infra to moan about.

Would have to ride it to be sure but it's a fairly safe assumption that if the contractors can't even get the dividers straight they'll get other things wrong: even from that photograph I can see variable camber and rutted tarmac. Are we supposed to so grateful when we're allowed 15% of the road width that we shouldn't complain when it's done ridiculously badly?