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Gilbert Road cycleway provision
The decision will be made at a meeting [view agenda and documents] of the County Council Cabinet on Tuesday 23rd February.
We will present our petition, and there is a counter-petition. Please come to the meeting if you are free (though unfortunately it is during the working day).
10.00am, Kreis Viersen Room, Shire Hall [cycle to here]
Please fill in the Council's survey, and sign our petition below.
As part of the 'Cycle Cambridge' changes, major improvements are proposed on Gilbert Road to improve the current and very poor conditions there for cycling.
Gilbert Road is a major cycling route, one particularly heavily used by children, but also by many others throughout the day. There are several schools in the area.
At present, there are cycle lanes in which people can park, effectively making these cycle lanes useless. The presence of parked cars means that people must cycle in and out of fast traffic, which is one of the most intimidating and difficult maneouvres required when cycling, particularly for children. As a result, some people are tempted to use the pavement illegally.
The proposals are to:
- Increase the cycle lane widths to 1.7m (there is also an option for 'mandatory' 1.5m lanes without yellow lines; we are less keen on this option). 1.7m is less than the government recommendation of 2m but it is the best that can be achieved given the width of the road.
- Add double yellow lines inside these 1.7m cycle lanes to prevent parking for 24 hours a day.
- Surface them properly by replacing the tarmac with red tarmac.
- The cycle lanes would be in force all day and night [part-time lanes would be unacceptable]
- Retain the 30mph limit (however, the cycle lanes will create an apparent narrowing of the road which will help reduce speeds)
- Install good-quality speed cushions for speed reduction
- Install raised tables at junctions, to lower speeds and make it easier to cross the road.
We strongly support the changes. However, there is some localised opposition to the loss of car parking, despite almost all houses having off-street parking and plentiful parking in nearby side-streets. Please take two urgent actions.
1) Fill in the official consultation (short) survey
Please fill in the short survey on the County Council's website. It is aimed at local residents as well as the many thousands of people who cycle here and who stand to gain from improvement of the currently poor cycle provision.
2) Add your name to our petition
Please sign our petition below, which will give us the ability to speak at the meeting where the changes will be decided. Please circulate the address of this webpage, asking others who cycle here to sign it likewise. Also ask others in your household who cycle to fill it in.
Petition to Cambridgeshire County Council Cabinet
We urge members of Cabinet to support the proposals from the County Council's Cycle Cambridge team for improvements to Gilbert Road. If implemented in full, the proposals would, we believe, make the road much safer and less intimidating than it is at present for cyclists and pedestrians especially the many children and young people who attend schools in the Gilbert Road area. The proposed speed reduction measures and good-quality cycle lanes unobstructed for 24 hours a day deserve Cabinet support.
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