News: Why are new cycle lanes being created across Rotherham?
If Rotherham Council wants to use government money to make multimillion pound investments in strategic transport routes in the borough, they will need to include cycle lanes, the authority has confirmed.
With Rotherham Council set to spend a further £24m on active travel schemes, the issue was raised in a recent full council meeting.
Consultation is currently being carried out on a £16.3m scheme that includes bike lanes, bus lanes and a built up roundabout at Eastwood, on the edge of Rotherham town centre. A similar £8m cycle lane and roundabout scheme is proposed for Stag Roundabout and Wickersley / Broom Road.
The schemes follow on from the the £6.4m Sheffield Road Cycleways and Maltby Bus Corridor schemes and the £3.6m Broom Road Cycleways scheme.
Sheffield Road Cycleways project has delivered over 2km of new cycle routes on the A6178 Sheffield Road and Westgate between the town centre and the borough boundary at Tinsley. Rothbiz reported how Rotherham Council was forced to explain the new road layout on Sheffield Road, which has introduced a single carriagway with cycle lanes that are not mandatory and instead indicate to drivers the distance they should leave when passing cyclists.
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The majority of funding is coming from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) through the City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), a government funding stream. The funding requirements dictate that designs must promote decarbonisation by providing improved options for public transport, walking and cycling although Rotherham Council has earmarked funding for ideas proposed by the community for addressing isues in the neighbourhoods.
Cllr. John Williams, Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy, told the meeting: "Any decision on funding is ultimately a decision for the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and the Department for Transport.
"If we only delivered the neighbourhood streets element of the scheme then potentially that would not be meeting the government's requirements for the funding. I should be clear that that requirement was set by the previous government and that requirement is to deliver a strategic route to enable people to walk, to cycle more and to help improve the speed and reliability of buses, to help people get about the borough.
"It is most likely, therefore, that if we to only do the scheme without the cycle lanes then it wouldn't be meeting that requirement"
Images: RMBC
With Rotherham Council set to spend a further £24m on active travel schemes, the issue was raised in a recent full council meeting.
Consultation is currently being carried out on a £16.3m scheme that includes bike lanes, bus lanes and a built up roundabout at Eastwood, on the edge of Rotherham town centre. A similar £8m cycle lane and roundabout scheme is proposed for Stag Roundabout and Wickersley / Broom Road.
The schemes follow on from the the £6.4m Sheffield Road Cycleways and Maltby Bus Corridor schemes and the £3.6m Broom Road Cycleways scheme.
Sheffield Road Cycleways project has delivered over 2km of new cycle routes on the A6178 Sheffield Road and Westgate between the town centre and the borough boundary at Tinsley. Rothbiz reported how Rotherham Council was forced to explain the new road layout on Sheffield Road, which has introduced a single carriagway with cycle lanes that are not mandatory and instead indicate to drivers the distance they should leave when passing cyclists.
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The majority of funding is coming from the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) through the City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), a government funding stream. The funding requirements dictate that designs must promote decarbonisation by providing improved options for public transport, walking and cycling although Rotherham Council has earmarked funding for ideas proposed by the community for addressing isues in the neighbourhoods.
Cllr. John Williams, Cabinet Member for Transport, Jobs and the Local Economy, told the meeting: "Any decision on funding is ultimately a decision for the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and the Department for Transport.
"If we only delivered the neighbourhood streets element of the scheme then potentially that would not be meeting the government's requirements for the funding. I should be clear that that requirement was set by the previous government and that requirement is to deliver a strategic route to enable people to walk, to cycle more and to help improve the speed and reliability of buses, to help people get about the borough.
"It is most likely, therefore, that if we to only do the scheme without the cycle lanes then it wouldn't be meeting that requirement"
Images: RMBC
6 comments:
IT would be better for the council to improve the conditions of the roads, for vehicles like drivers have asked for many years, before creating cycle lanes, there are several cycle lanes already not used by anyone, it would be interesting to understand the statistics of usage of the cycle lanes verses the investment, why not use the additional funds for road repairs along with investing in parking spaces wider for todays vehicles so people don't park in mother and babies because they car will only fit in them.. lot more strategic initiatives can be created rather than cycle lanes for the McDonalds rubbish to reside in
Did you not read the article? (it's in the first line!) The money the council is receiving is dependent on them including cycle lanes in their schemes. "If Rotherham Council wants to use government money to make multimillion pound investments in strategic transport routes in the borough, they will need to include cycle lanes, the authority has confirmed"
Of course he didn't read the article. He wouldn't want facts to distort his views.
I will never understand the whole cycle lane argument.
Are we supposed to believe that every council in the land has installed similar half-baked schemes so that they can fill in a few pot holes?
I cannot think of a worse road scheme that's been implemented than Rotherham's horrendous cycle lanes.
I regularly travel to Leicester for work and road improvement schemes there all include cycle lanes and traffic calming measures so it would suggest it is national policy.
Yes, it's the same in Leeds. The city centre was a nightmare to drive around at the best of times but cycle lanes have made it even worse in the last few years.
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