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Meads Reach Bridge aka the Cheesegrater (CC BY-SA 2.0 licenced by Rob Brewer:Flickr)Petition demands fixes to Bristol's dangerously slippery Cheesegrater bridge
A Bristol cyclist has set up a petition calling for a grippier surface to be applied to an award-winning bridge in the city that has been blamed for sending dozens of cyclists to A&E.
Meads Reach bridge by Bristol Temple Meads station has a metal surface, according to the Bristol Post, which cycling groups say has caused riders to fall off their bikes, sustaining injuries that have required stitches, dental work and treatment for whiplash.
Since being set up on Friday October 17, the petition has already garnered over 300 signatures. It calls on Bristol City Council to force the management company responsible for the bridge, GVA Facilities Management to improve the surface that has earned it the nickname "Cheese Grater Bridge - for both its aesthetic and skin grating qualities".
The bridge links the station and the Temple Quay Central area, and is part of the Sustrans National Cycle Network.
The cyclist who set the petition, Toby Bridgeman, said: “I’d really like to stop the injuries and have a sensible surface for a bridge on an official Sustrans cycling route in an official cycling city. Seems like a lot of other people feel the same way because the petition has had 200 signatures.
“I have seen a number cyclists have accidents whilst travelling relatively slowly across it and i myself had a nasty accident in January which resulted in a trip to A&E.
“An additional surface should be laid down to give extra grip to avoid future slipping and accidents.”
In his petition, Bridgeman writes: "The metal, cheese grater-like surface of the pedestrian and cycle path bridge next to Bristol Temple Meads station is extremely slippery and very hazardous when wet. People are consistently falling of their bikes, as is being documented here: https://www.fixmystreet.com/report/314334. Several incidents have required trips to A&E.
"The bridge is at the very beginning of one of the most popular cycling routes in the country and used by thousands of commuters and tourists every week. However, its surface is wholly unsuitable for bikes when wet - it becomes extremely slippery and results in nasty (grating) injuries when people fall. This is not a good introduction to the cycle path for anyone, and not a good introduction to visitors to Bristol.
"Requests to GVA for improvements have not resulted in any action. So we hereby call on Bristol City Council to force GVA and the Temple Quay Management Company to make the bridge safe for both cyclists and pedestrians immediately."
A spokesman for GVA told the Bristol Post that safety on the bridge is of paramount importance, and said the company had already looked at ways to improve the surface.
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
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27 comments
Personally if I am ever using that route to get to the station as opposed to cycling back to Bath I use the original bridge as its a quicker and safer route. It is also a bit of a push to say it part of the NCNas it only links a number of road routes or traffic free (shared use in most cases) and there are far better routes through central Bristol. Anyway cycle city........???? total bollocks to be honest
Ironically, there are (or used to be) cyclist dismount signs on the bridge. There are others all over the place in that area, an open plaza area that is busy during rush hour with cyclists and pedestrians. Cyclists ignore them or go around them (via going in to a car park or on to the road. There are now warning signs on the bridge to warn all users (peds or cyclists) that it is slippery in the wet.
Apart from being a skating rink in the wet, it's actually a lovely bridge!
Oh, and I'm not going to sue or put in a claim... the scar makes my knee more interesting, as I've got no feeling in the scar area, thus rendering it handy if I come off my bike again and scrape it in the same place.
Piss up? Brewery? Part 3
BTW the bridge is apparently one of the first "Cycling City" projects:
http://www.betterbybike.info/video-list/meads-reach-bridge
Toby Bridgeman? Sounds rather made up if you ask me... What's his wife's name - Sue Spension?
Am I the only one expecting the council to 'solve' this with a "cyclists - dismount" sign?
That was the response of the wonderful people commenting on the Bristol Post's article, too. When I suggested that telling cyclists on a NCN route to dismount was analagous to telling people coming down the M32 to stop, turn off their engine and push for a bit, I was told that was silly (they did think, however, that telling cyclists to dismount is analagous to lowering a speed limit).
Mind you, if that area is as busy with pedestrians as other posters have claimed, why does the NCN go through it as a shared use route anyway? (Sorry, I rarely go up that end of Bristol).
Yes, but it's "award-winning", so it must be good.
yes like those design council approved teapots that drip all over the table when you try to pour with them...
Dunno if you're old enough to remember the Ministry Of Crap Design c/o Ben Elton:
http://everything2.com/title/The+Ministry+of+Crap+Design
There's a footbridge in Bilbao which has similar problem - the surface is glass, so slippery as heck when it's wet. IIRC they'd put skateboard-like griptape down in parts..
Please don't remind me of how old I am. That is something I try to forget.
report it via collideoscope...
http://collideosco.pe/
and also explore Brostol's council pages looking for a web form for submitting a complaint
Be careful what you wish for.
The words "non slip metal surface" will pop up on a purchase order at the council and they will promptly order a load of aluminium barley corn plate.
Which is just as lethal when wet.
I've come off on there and have a scar on my knee where it gouged out a lump of flesh - it's terrible but you can negotiate it with care.
Whilst the bridge is part of the NCN, it was commissioned by the Temple Gate business chiefs who were clearly more concerned with the look of the thing than the safety. Just because it's part of the NCN, doesn't mean that it's Sustrans' fault for it being slippery.
Have you thought about pursuing with the crash compensation cowboys? That would certainly focus minds if they had to start paying out for injuries
Band together with a class action:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules/part19#IDAX...
That will expedite matters.
Agreed it's not Sustrans fault for it being the way it is.
But! they have a terrible habit of adopting, labelling and putting stickers up on routes which are dangerous and substandard and call them a "National cycle route"
Would the DFT accept a pothole ridden single lane carriage way being called a motorway? no of course not! and nor should we accept it as ok. Sustrans should know better, that is IMHO what people object to about Sustrans.
You go and plan a long distance tour on your road bike using their map and you'll find everything from muddy and gravel tracks, to narrow potholed shared use paths to pointless strips of paint on busy roads.
No it's not their fault that the infrastructure isn't there but IMHO they need to stop endorsing\adopting the rubbish that they do.
What I object to about Sustrans is that a charity set up to create and promote a cycle network realised it had more of a chance if it promoted 'sustainable transport', and started creating infrastructure that specifically excluded cyclists. I object to that very strongly.
Make sure you get this recorded - the bridge is not a public highway, and as private land, is covered by the Health & Safety Commission.
Incidents - especially where injuries result from them and hospital visits are required should be recorded by the site owner with a RIDDOR report.
When a number of reports for the same issue are noted the HSC will certainly take an interest, as this indicates that the site owner (ultimately) has a duty of care to all those using the site (Section 3 HSAWA for non-employees on the site).
Suggest you contact local HSC Offices in Bristol and ask about their recommendations to prevent future crashes.
The design of the approaches also sounds to be poor, with the need to make a severe/sharp turn on a surface which may not be suitable, and potential for crashing into damaging bridge parapet or other detail if you 'lose it'
Needs a Hazard review and then action plan to either remove hazards, or mitigate them by management of users (speed, approach direction, etc)
I'm well aware that Sustrans weren't responsible for building it. For starters, there are no big metal gates or barriers that make it impossible for many types of bikes and riders to actually get through.
It's more a case of Sustrans just accepting anything that is proposed to them, their refusal to stand up and say "Hang on, this isn't acceptable" and their eagerness to claim anything as a success despite it being not fit for purpose.
Who defines the NCN? Sustrans? if it isn't fit for purpose then it should never have been included.
It really is rather alarming, because as you come off it to the Avon Street side, you have to make a 90-degree turn one way or the other.
On a damp day, if you touch the brakes while committing to that turn you're at real risk of sliding out.
Very handsome structure, but it does need a non-slip deck.
The turn at the end of the bridge is because of building works. When it was first in place you could straight on to Avon Street past the Ibis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuA53w4G2Bk
"and is part of the Sustrans National Cycle Network."
Bingo.
It's not a fun surface for pedestrians either. Can't imagine there will be many objections to this.
You'd think. Take a look at the usual anti-bike ranting peds commenting on the Evening Post thread on Facebook.
I've given up on looking at cycle stories on that site.