The cycle paths on the Quincentennial bridge and associated roads have been a source of controversy since they were first constructed in the 1980s. From that time, cyclists have been asking questions about how they were expected to make lawful use of these paths. (It was first pointed out to the council engineers at the time of construction that the Newcastle road junction required separate traffic lights for cyclists in order to work – their response at the time was that they didn’t know anything about that kind of thing.) Over the intervening years the city council executive have been happy to leave the issue of priority on these routes unspecified.
Then in May 2010, the council started placing new road markings the paths. The council had the option of following practice elsewhere and putting in markings that emphasised priority for cyclists over turning and crossing traffic. Instead, the council has chosen to use road markings that systematically remove priority from cyclists at every location where a choice could be made. The new markings imply that cyclists must yield to following motor traffic and that cyclists must stop for green lights. The city council did this while at the same time they were in the middle of a bid for 25 million in Smarter Travel funding for measures to promote walking and cycling.
Leave a Reply