"Notice how there are no cycle lanes to blame traffic on": Claims "absolute joke" bike lane causing "gridlock" rubbished by campaigners' old video; Brompton recalls G Line; Could airbags be the solution to cycling's crash dangers? + more on the live blog

There's been "gridlock" in Manchester city centre making news headlines recently, roadworks turning Deansgate into a one-way route with new cycle lanes getting the blame from some business owners and residents. In the local press there has been the usual headlines, the Manchester Evening News (MEN) going for: 'An absolute joke': Fury over Deansgate cycle lanes after weekend of gridlock.

A video of drivers having a row in the middle of a busy road, an onlooker telling the BBC "people's tempers are boiling over" due to city-centre traffic "chaos", was also widely shared on social media.

Deansgate Chaos 🚗💥

Deansgate, Manchester’s key artery for over 200 years, is now a one-way bottleneck with half its width given to barely-used cycle lanes (unless you’re a Deliveroo rider).

Pat Karney, @patkarney I respect you, but this mess is on your watch. It took me 1… pic.twitter.com/jplqvG5Wrj

— Mark Garner (@GordoManchester) December 15, 2024

 In the MEN piece, the paper heard from residents and business owners who claim the cycle lane scheme has "simply not been thought through" and is the cause of the area's traffic woes. The paper reported queues of over an hour last weekend, cycle lanes that have been installed since the pandemic getting the blame.

Transport for Greater Manchester has advised people not to drive into the city centre as a number of events mean it would be "extremely busy" on the roads. Likewise, Manchester City Council says the "city is changing" and changes to support active travel and public transport will transform Deansgate "from a traditional vehicle route to a place to visit and enjoy".

However, the local paper story hears from numerous residents and business owners complaining about the gridlock, one calling it "an absolute joke".

"Unused cycle lanes for the minority yet public transport gridlocked due to poor traffic management," she claimed. "Emergency services stand no chance of getting through and pavements used as roads it's madness.

"Who cycles? Not people with shopping. Not people with kids. Not people visiting with luggage. Not the elderly. Not the disabled. Not people with visual or hearing impairment. Not people with knee or hip problems. Not people who don't want to be cold or wet - which it is a lot of the time in Manchester. It's great though for some robust cycling enthusiasts and the Deliveroo drivers. I have various family and friends who have said outright they won't come to town at all until after Christmas as it's so, so bad. And it's bad enough the rest of the time."

Another resident told the newspaper: "Deansgate was built as one of the main thoroughfares in and out of Manchester but what they're doing is forcing traffic down roads that were never built for it. I understand the ambition to get all vehicles out of the city centre but while you have people living and working here, there needs to be a better plan in place."

Others claimed it was "killing bars", while a restaurant owner said: "A lot of Uber drivers are saying people don't want to come into town because of the traffic, and saying they won't pick up or drop off near Deansgate. I wouldn't mind but the cycle lane, you don't see any cyclists coming around so I don't know when they're all supposed to be coming in."

It is to all that context that Walk Ride GM got involved, the group "campaigning to make walking and cycling the natural choice for everyday journeys across Greater Manchester".

They shared the following video of the gridlock chaos...

Deansgate 2018

Still gridlocked

Notice how there are no cycle lanes to blame the traffic on. pic.twitter.com/ndKTtEKnZP

— Walk Ride GM (@WalkRideGM) December 18, 2024

Oh, we forgot to mention, no, that video isn't from the weekend, but from 2018...

"Deansgate 2018," Walk Ride GM wrote. "Still gridlocked. Notice how there are no cycle lanes to blame the traffic on."

One follower replied: "Exactly, been like that a long time. Why does anyone need to drive down Deansgate? Should be fully pedestrianised."

Another added: "I remember working in Manchester back in 2001, finishing at 10:30pm on a Friday and it taking me an hour to get down Deansgate. That wasn't rare at that point."

In the latest update to the situation, mayor Andy Burnham this morning told BBC Radio Manchester that there will be "a review" over everything next month.

He told residents: "I think we have to review everything and come up with a plan to make it sustainable. We need to have an honest look at everything after December. December is always the hardest because the pressure on the roads is huge. I am going to have an honest review to look at it and come back to [this programme] with how we will make the whole place function better.

"The Christmas Markets have been hugely popular and Co-op Live has changed things. It’s put more footfall into the city and put more cars into the city as the audience is older so more people are driving. People also do not trust the trains."

Burnham concluded that while there are "significant roadworks on Deansgate", there are "other things" too and that in the long-run more people need to "get public transport into the city centre like they do in London". In a statement provided to the MEN, Labour councillor Tracey Rawlins said:

In the spring of 2025 when the Deansgate and Whitworth Street West project comes to a conclusion we will of course then take stock, and undergo a period where it's monitored and assessed to make sure that its planned aims are being achieved. This is a process which takes place for any major infrastructure project and is a key part in the delivery of any scheme of this size.

It is during this period we will look at the impact of the changes, what is working, or what perhaps needs to be amended. This can range from ensuring that signage is properly in place, to how timings on traffic lights are affecting the passage of traffic, to how safely pedestrians and cyclists are able to use the new layout.

As a council we are committed to improving our city centre, making it a cleaner, greener and more pleasant place for people to travel through. We want to encourage more people to walk, cycle or use public transport when travelling into the city centre and, ultimately, we want 90 per cent of peak morning journeys to be made this way; this is why schemes like this are so important if we are to move away from a car-centric city centre.

 Transport for Greater Manchester's chief network officer Danny Vaughan added:

It's been an exceptionally busy few weeks with a lot of major sporting, music and other events taking place and people enjoying the festive period. While we've encouraged people who can to use public transport, we've also worked really hard to help people who are driving, including managing signal timings on key roads to help keep traffic flowing and by providing over a thousand of additional park and ride spaces last weekend.

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Airbags for cyclists. That's a topic we've heard plenty about over the years although, admittedly, it's often via crowdfunding campaigns and speculative tech, not a Grand Tour stage-winning pro cyclist raising the question of whether airbags could be a legit "solution" to reducing danger in racing.

Speaking to Sporza about the possibility, Stefan Küng said if the tech "really works" then "it could be a solution".

"It will cost money. But what is 500 euros if you can prevent serious injuries or even deaths with it?"

The Swiss powerhouse did raise reservations based on issues with the adoption of the tech in skiing, explaining that it was made mandatory by the sport's federation but that "many skiers then requested exemption" as they feared "that they could injure their neck when the airbag inflates".

Overall though, he was pretty open-minded, suggesting a similar system to one developed by a Ghent University professor could be a "solution". That one weighs around 600g and comes with the claim that it can significantly reduce injuries in a crash. The Küng interview followed 'aerobag' developer Bert Celis yesterday telling the Belgian news site that he predicts airbags will be used in racing by 2026.

"In sports like MotoGP or skiing, the concept of an airbag has been known for a long time. Now it is up to cycling to take a step towards more safety," he said. "We hope to be able to use it from next year during training, because many accidents happen there too. And I expect it to be used in the race in 2026, when the riders are already used to it and have been able to experience the benefits during training. That would be the logical step."

Commenting more widely about the dangers of cycling, Küng said how as a child he wanted to be a skier but his mother wouldn't let him as it was too dangerous.

"She had no problem with cycling," the Groupama-FDJ rider said. "Now people wonder why you want to be a cyclist [...] we are driving faster and faster and we often go over the limit during the race. But unlike Formula 1, we do not have circuits that are specially built for us and where chicanes are built to limit the speed somewhat [...] If an airbag really works and becomes mandatory in the race, it could be a solution."

Küng is no stranger to terrible crashes, his at the 2023 European time trial championships causing much discussion and prompting ex-UCI chief Brian Cookson to call for an end to the "crazy trend" of riding head down in time trials.

Officials from the Swiss cycling team subsequently admitted their rider should not have finished the race, Küng remounting and riding to the finish despite suffering injuries to his hand and cheekbone, and wearing a badly damaged helmet with blood pouring down his face.

The discussion around safety in pro cycling has rumbled on into the off-season, 18-year-old cyclist Muriel Furrer's death at the World Championships the latest horrific reminder of the dangers that riders face.

Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme recently made the controversial claim that crashes such as the one in the Basque Country in April that took down Jonas Vingegaard, Remco Evenepoel and many others are caused by riders "going too fast".

"Beyond the behaviour of the athletes and the work of the organisers, it is absolutely necessary to reduce speed by appropriate measures: the riders are going too fast," he said. "The faster they go, the greater the risk and the more they endanger themselves and others."

Many rolled their eyes at the comments, EF boss Jonathan Vaughters going further and taking to social media: "It is absolutely infuriating to me how these fat cats, who have never raced so much as a child's tricycle, turning tens of millions in profit off the backs of others, squarely throw the blame of safety issues in cycling on the riders."

Fellow team boss Marc Madiot, who runs Küng's FDJ, suggested slowing down the bikes is the "only solution". 

"The equation is impossible," the two-time Paris-Roubaix winner suggested, backing up Prudhomme's analysis. "The guys are riding faster and faster on terrain where everything is designed to slow down the vehicles. And downhill, it's worse than anything. And since a lot of guys don't want to understand anything, there's only one solution: slow down the bikes.

"Formula 1 has never stopped restricting cars. Not only has it saved lives, but its spectacle has lost nothing. Honestly, is a race at an average of 48kph less exciting than one at 55kph?"

Last week, Tadej Pogačar joined the discussion, arguing the onus should be on the riders to "not do stupid things", rather than restricting bikes whose "tech always gets faster".

"The whole cycling world is developing like any other sport, breaking records every year and going faster and faster," he told Escape Collective's Ronan McLaughlin.

"Technology moves ahead, and in one way I totally understand that we cannot be stuck on a steel bike that goes 10kph slower. Marketing doesn't go so well selling the bikes, the jersey, the helmets. Everything needs to improve."