Brooklands Avenue update

This article was published in 2003, in Newsletter 47.

On 27 January, Brooklands Avenue was turned into a one-way thoroughfare for a gas main to be replaced. The work is expected to last for 16 weeks.

The local authority traffic engineers have confirmed to us that the one-way restriction does not apply to the shared-use pavements on both sides of the road from Trumpington Road as far as Clarendon Road, 100 m short of the junction with Hills Road. These remain two-way for cyclists, although the pavement on the south side of the avenue is partially blocked and may well become fully blocked as the work proceeds.

Sadly very little consideration has been given to the fact that Brooklands Avenue is a major cycle route. There are no on-site notices at all to indicate that the pavements remain open for two-way cycling. The prominent one-way notices suggest, quite wrongly, that all contra-flow cycling is prohibited. The public notice announcing the scheme in the Cambridge Evening News made no mention of the continued availability of two-way pavement cycling. Nor did it mention Bateman Street as the obvious diversionary route for on-road cycling. It is remarkable that in a city where 25% of people cycle to work so little attention is still given to the needs of cyclists.

Brooklands avenue cones
Brooklands Avenue: Cycling is still allowed in both directions on the pavement despite the road closure.
The temporary creation of a coned-off inbound cycle lane over Hills Road railway bridge has indicated what an advantage it would be to have on-road cycle lanes in both directions over the bridge where cyclists are so often dangerously squeezed by traffic. Since Hills Road is single lane for most of its length, how about converting the bridge to a single traffic lane and a mandatory cycle lane in each direction? Surely this is the kind of action which the government-backed National Cycling Strategy requires local authorities to adopt. Brooklands Avenue cycle lane
The temporary creation of a coned-off inbound cycle lane over Hills Road railway bridge has shown what an advantage it would be to have on-road cycle lanes over the bridge.

James Woodburn