The purpose of Transport Minister McIlveen’s visit to Gelderland was to see how the Dutch province developed its network of Cycle Superhighways and how cycle infrastructure might lift the percentage of children cycling to school above 0%.
Bikefast report that the Comber Greenway might be up for a makeover. Actually, it would be more like open heart surgery.
To bring it up to Dutch standard it will need segregation between pedestrians and cyclists.
The Minister on the footpath, the rubber necker on the cycleway
Or like so:
Cycle Superhighway in Essen, Germany
The route will need clear priority over motorised traffic on junctions with minor roads.
The Other Abbey Road
And at major crossings, such as the A55 at Knock we might need this:
Rijn Waal Pad tunnel under A15
And lighting.
And a budget to maintain it, keep it gritted in winter, cleared of snow and swept.
But mostly we need a clear political will to spend significantly more than the paltry £1.30 per person per year.
Cycle superhighways cannot exist in a vacuum, but need to be connected with local high standard cycleways to school, shops, community and leisure centres and libraries.
I encourage Michelle McIlveen to continue down this road. All the others are dead ends.
Cargobike Dad 