Worthing residents slam ‘moronic’ new cycle lane - but some want it to stay for good

A temporary cycle lane installed on one of Worthing’s busiest roads has been slammed by residents on social media.
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Two lanes of Broadwater Road have been cordoned off between the Grove Lodge roundabout and the town centre as part of a government drive to get people cycling during the coronavirus pandemic.

Installed by West Sussex County Council but funded directly from the Government, the lane will not be open to cyclists for another two weeks.

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A picture gallery published by the Herald on Friday (August 14) has already received more than 700 comments and, unfortunately, the overwhelming majority have condemned the new feature.

Traffic has been reduced to a single lane SUS-200814-132814001Traffic has been reduced to a single lane SUS-200814-132814001
Traffic has been reduced to a single lane SUS-200814-132814001

Commenting on the Herald’s Facebook page, Mark Tate said the new lane was an ‘absolute joke’ and traffic was backed up in every direction - a situation he envisaged worsening as the weather deteriorates.

“Seems such a moronic idea, with no regard of residents thoughts or those that rely on the trade coming to Worthing who have already had it bad enough in 2020,” he said.

Ross Roobag Steele said as a motorist and cyclist the lanes seemed ‘pretty pointless’ and said they would cause unnecessary gridlock in already congested areas.

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Dan Hall agreed: “Worthing has enough congestion at any time. It’s a lovely idea to think everyone can hop on a bike but it’s just not realistic.

“Most of the traffic on this road are commuters who can’t use a bike or public transport. The air pollution from stationery vehicles will rocket.

“This is one of the busiest roads in and out of Worthing and you’ve reduced the lanes by 50 per cent.”

Margaret Harman said the congestion could deter visitors to the town centre, damaging sales on the high street as it recovered from lockdown.

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Tanya Chubb echoed the sentiments of many commenters who questioned how emergency service vehicles, such as ambulances trying to reach nearby Worthing Hospital, could get past.

“Let’s hope this doesn’t end up in a life or death situation for someone on their way to hospital,” she said.

While the comments were predominantly negative, there were some supporters among the Herald’s readers.

Nathan Newman said the scheme was ‘fantastic’ and hoped it would become permanent.

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“I get people are upset that it will cause a build up in traffic and longer journey times for drivers but this is the only option for fixing congestion in the longer term,” he said.

“Worthing is never going to get a bypass, and there’s no room to build bigger roads through Worthing so we can’t just keep adding more and more cars to the roads and expect the problem to solve itself. By making it easier/quicker/cheaper/safer to get around Worthing by walking, cycling or public transport than by car, the more people will be forced to switch and congestion, noise and air pollution etc will all improve.

“Unfortunately people are naturally resistant to change and sometimes measures like these are needed to force people to change their behaviour.”

Lorraine Pollard agreed. She welcomed the environmental benefits of the scheme and suggested drivers who did not want to sit in traffic could get on their bike instead.

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“We have to reduce the cars not have the same amount of cars sitting in a jam,” she said, adding Worthing was being ‘suffocated’ by pollution.

A spokesman for the council said: “The Government is encouraging councils to create safe spaces to help sustainable travel, building on the significant increase in active travel seen during lockdown.

“The seven schemes in West Sussex, of which Worthing’s is one, will total 21km of new and improved temporary cycleways to promote cycling and enable sustainable travel choices: they will give safe space for cycling, as an alternative to the car, especially for short journeys.

“Please bear in mind the Worthing temporary cycleway will not be open to cyclists until it is complete, so usage cannot be fairly assessed: construction only began last week and is likely to take approximately two more weeks. As with all construction projects, there will be disruption and inconvenience, for which we apologise, and we will continue to do all we can to minimise this as much as possible.

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“These schemes are trials, paid for by the Government, that aim to redistribute road space and put cycling on a par with car traffic. This is an important step to encourage more active travel and less reliance on the car. Once built, the temporary cycleways will be closely monitored to ensure they are having a positive impact on local travel: this will include how well used they are by cyclists and any positive or negative impact on congestion, safety and air quality. Adjustments will be considered and, if the schemes do not work, then some or all may be removed.

“We continue to work with bus operators and emergency services to consider their needs and have had no reports of issues, to date.

“Please see the scheme’s illustrative map and further details at www.westsussex.gov.uk/popupcyclelanes

“The Department for Transport has funded the schemes, with an allocation totalling £781,000 from the Emergency Active Travel Fund. No costs are anticipated for residents.

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“We recently made a bid for funding from tranche two of the Emergency Active Travel Fund, including the Findon Valley to Findon village cycleway/footway scheme.”

The second planned cycle lane will see the A24 scheme extended by a further 2km up to Findon Village.

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