Death, taxes, Facebook frothing. The world keeps spinning, the cycle lane keeps provoking.
Today’s highlight comes from Peterborough where the City Council has unveiled plans to introduce a permanent, two-way cycle lane on Crescent Bridge in the city centre.
The cycle lane would replace the existing left-hand eastbound traffic lane between the off-carriageway route and Loverose Way and would have priority access. The proposal also states that the new cycle lane should be the “priority route for future funding” as it will be required to connect the future Thorpe Road scheme into the city centre, as reported by the Peterborough Telegraph.
It should be said that this is just a proposal waiting to be presented by a council working group to a scrutiny committee later this week, and there’s been temporary infrastructure on the bridge before. Which, funnily enough, is the choice of featured image the Telegraph included on their Facebook post…
Cue the predictable comments…
“Love the way this photo shows a cyclist not using the dedicated cycle lane🤣🤣” wrote one.
“Well it’s working well. As per usual the cyclist isn’t in the cycle lane” added another.
“Sorry can’t fit any cars on that road as it is but why not add a cycle lane I’m sure that will be a great idea”
“Red letter day today! I actually saw a cyclist using the nice new red cycleway on Thorpe Wood!!”
You get the idea.
To be clear, there’s no obligation for cyclists to use the cycle lane, and we’ve often reported on how poorly maintained cycle lanes can discourage people from using them.
Still, kudos are due to the people in the commenters who stuck their heads above the proverbial parapet.
“Perhaps if some of the car driver got on a bike, especially the ones that only travel 3 or 4 miles, it would ease the traffic on crescent bridge,” wrote Michael Fulcher.
“At last!!! The one place in the city that needs a cycle lane for the safety of drivers, cyclists and pedestrians🙌🏻👍🏻” added Sharon Sim.
Perhaps the sanity of a less car-centric world is slowly but surely seeping into the rage-bait of local journalism comment sections. Fingers crossed…