A quick update on the Stretford Cycleway in the end of August, following the previous update:

• Progress on the Stretford Cycleway – August 2018

Talbot Road

It seems that much of the resurfacing work on the inbound side of Talbot Road is now complete. Unfortunately, the quality of the resurfacing is pretty poor. The areas that have been resurfaced are not all flush with the existing surface and there’s a definite bump as you pass onto the new surface.

The resurfacing is quite patchy too. Rather than doing the whole of the cycleway, they’ve just patched the worst areas. Unfortunately, this still leaves some pretty poor areas that have been left as they were. This is disappointing.

At this stage, it’s unclear whether there’ll be any improvements on the outbound side. Given the state of some of the sections of cycleway here, resurfacing is desperately needed. Particularly near the Great Stone Road junction, where the road often floods and the section between Great Stone Road and the A56.

Stretford Road

It’s also disappointing to see that large stretches of the inbound side of Stretford Road haven’t been resurfaced at all. As new road markings have already been put down, it’s clear no improvements are planned.

The work on the first good quality bus stop bypass now looks to be complete. Overall, this appears to be pretty good, though it isn’t perfect. The cycleway is a little narrow as it passes the bus stop and the kerbs are not sloped, so there’s potential of a pedal strike.

Work on the bus stop bypass with the floating island looked to be mostly complete, though there was some work going on just beyond it. This is now looking reasonably good, but with the same issues as the previous bus stop bypass.

In the sections around the bus stop bypasses, more paint has gone down, awaiting Wand Orcas. The surface again is quite variable as it is on Talbot Road. It really is a shame they’ve not made more of an effort to improve the surface so it’s consistently good.

It’s clear drivers are still struggling with parking in the parking bays, rather than on the cycleway. Quite a few people have been complaining about this on Twitter also. I expect this will continue until the Wand Orcas have been added.

I’m assuming that the Wand Orcas won’t be added until all the other work has been carried out. I’m not sure this is the best approach. It would be better if the Wand Orcas were added as sections are completed, so they don’t get parked and can be used.

This raises another issue. Currently, cycling along Stretford Road is quite problematic as the work is being carried out. Some of the completed sections you can happily cycle along until the cycleway comes to an abrupt end and you have to rejoin the road. This isn’t helped by the parking situation, with motor vehicles parking randomly across the cycleway.

Come back again soon for a further update.