News / bristol and bath railway path
Scheme to widen cycle path begins
“I am mildly inconvenienced by this,” a calm cyclist whispered as he steered his bicycle without a fuss around the latest diversion on the Bristol & Bath Railway Path.
Work to widen the one of the narrowest and busiest sections of the path has started and many people are not happy.
The £80,000 improvement scheme involves widening the path from two meters to four at its narrowest section by Lawrence Hill industrial estate and will take about 10 weeks.
is needed now More than ever
A diversion route round Brixton Road, Easton Road and Croydon Street is now in place.
The scheme is being paid for through the Local Sustainable Transport Fund which was granted to Bristol by the Department for Transport.
But many users of the path are unhappy that the work is being carried out over the summer months and at the same time as other sections of the path are also closed.
“Ludicrous!” wrote Simon Bowater on Bristol24/7’s Facebook page.
“The council has obviously just got its funding through for the new financial year, but come on!! Closed for the busiest time of year – to go along with the closure starting in bitton this week AND the ongoing closure out at the tunnel past fishponds! They should have just shut the whole thing for 3 months over the winter!”
Assistant mayor for transport, Mark Bradshaw, said: “We are keen to improve existing routes, address missing links between destinations and create completely new corridors to encourage more people to take up active independent travel – it’s a healthy and congestion-busting approach to getting around Bristol.”
Last week, Bristol City Council’s cabinet approved a £9.4 million investment, following a successful bid to the Cycling Ambition Fund as part of a £19 million cycling improvement programme for the West of England over the next three years which is designed to connect workplaces and businesses with communities and neighbourhoods.