Campaigner calls for safe alternative to busy stretch of road in the Yorkshire Dales

Dales gets a mention cos of its TdF, but there are so many across the UK, and here in rural Scotland with major A roads carrying freight that need some safety for us cyclists.

Hope he gets some results...

a national strategy would be nice instead of whim of councils and councillors

I cycle along this stretch occasionally. I usually cycle on the pavement due to the width of the road and speed of the traffic. I don't think I've ever seen a pedestrian walking along here, and there's only a short stretch where there are driveways, the rest is just a drystone wall (so no chance that someone can just step out in front of you). But I don't think this will go ahead simply because the road is already quite narrow and the pavement is only 1.5m wide in places, so there's no room.

Yes, the canal runs parallel, but the towpath is simply not rideable on a road/hybrid bike, it's just grass/soil, there are lots of rocks, roots and it's on a camber in places. It's great fun on a mountain bike in the wet if you like getting muddy though!

The Leeds Liverpool Canal runs parallel .....

Quote:

Certainly in locations with very little pedestrian traffic upgrading the paths to 3m with decent surfaces and priority over pub entrances and field gates etc can be a good win for all.

I agree with this. All the foot & cycle paths I've seen in this country give way to every side road and field gate, which makes them inconvenient to use. We'll never get cycle infrastructure right in this country until this is sorted.

It's good that Mr Bolt is getting involved. There ought be safe cycling routes to the Dales but a lot of roads are so busy as to be unusable by cyclists. North Yorkshire don't seem to understand cycling, and aren't interested, as far as I can tell. Maybe a councillor will have more influence than an ordinary resident.

There was a lot of talk about legacy at the time of the Tour, but there is no money for it, and there's no ambition. I think it was mainly hot air.

It's sometimes the little bits like this that stop things being joined up that are the "quick wins"

Certainly in locations with very little pedestrian traffic upgrading the paths to 3m with decent surfaces and priority over pub entrances and field gates etc can be a good win for all.

Good luck to him. I wish I had some councillors like him

Presumably the path is adopted and included on the list of roads, so there may even be some leverage to ensure it is maintained by the authorities.

If not perhaps a 'citizen' group can do initial clearance and tidying up - fixing drainage etc. Work that requires minimal material costs, but uses well directed manual labour to produce a useable result from materials available on site.

This is a sensible idea, so it will never happen although there will probably be an expensive consultation to establish that it is too sensible.