Progress on the Stretford Cycleway – Mid November 2018 (Part 1)

This is part 1 in an update on the Stretford Cycleway mid November, following previous updates:

It’s been a while since my last update on the Stretford Cycleway back in mid September. At that time, work was quite far progressed on Talbot Road, while on Stretford Road, there was still quite a lot to do on the outbound side.

It’s now mid November and nearly all the work is complete on Talbot Road and Stretford Road. Work has also started on the Westpoint junction, which wasn’t in the original CCAG2 scheme, but has been funded with CCAG2 money that wasn’t spent, due to elements being being downgraded or removed from other elements of the scheme.

As part of this update, I recorded a video of the whole route, which you can watch below. I had my camera mounted at the front of the front carrier of my Elephant Bike, so it’s a little bumpy. Though that probably gives a true representation of the surface quality.

Talbot Road

There hasn’t been a huge amount of change on Talbot Road since my last update, with many of the updates being quite subtle.

On the inbound side, the green paint and road markings have been corrected. During my last update, for some reason the green paint didn’t go across the the side roads, there was just sections before and after.

20181118_115026 — Green paint now correctly placed across the junctions

Green paint has also gone down on some of the other sections, including on the approach to the Great Stone Road junction. It looks like there’s still some sections lacking green paint, such as across the entrances to the police station. I’m not sure if they’re due to get some, but I think it’s needed.

On my previous visit, there was a section of the cycleway near the police station receiving some additional resurfacing. This has now been completed, though it’s fair to say the surface is still pretty poor at times along Talbot Road.

20181118_115311 — Resurfacing now complete, but the surface is still pretty poor

On the outbound side, we’ve seen more Wand Ocas go down around near the cricket ground and the way to the Chester Road junction. This is good to see.

What isn’t such good news is the first evidence of damage on one of the Wand Orcas. Fortunately, the damage just appears to be just on the reflective cover. Though I suspect this has happened by the Wand Orca being hit or driven over. I doubt this will be the last damage we see.

20181118_121346 — First evidence of a damaged wand

It’a also disappointing to see the lack of wands on the outbound side after the Great Stone Road junction. At first, it was thought these were to be added later, but it turns out they’ve been omitted from the plans. To appease the residents along this section it appears.

20181118_121716 — Orcas missing wands, leading to the cycleway being blocked

This doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, as it means drivers are able to drive over the Orcas and block the cycleway. So there’s little point the Orcas being there.

20181008_172124 — A car parked on the Orcas, showing how ineffective they are without wands

It’s evidence of the council copping out and lacking the necessary political will to do the right thing. I hope this is more of a reflection of the previous executive and a thing of the past.

Next to part 2 – Stretford Road