Disruption warning as new cycle path is approved
Richard Youle Local Democracy Reporter
Funding for a cycle path which will cause some disruption on a busy city road has been approved, and work on the first phase of it will get under way this year.
An 850m stretch of cycle path in Swansea will be built on Walter Road between Page Street, Mount Pleasant, and Brynymor Road, Uplands, with two future phases extending it westwards through Uplands and along Gower Road up to the junction with De-La-Beche Road, Sketty.
It was one several cycle, bus and electric vehicle charging projects for Swansea which have shared £7 million of Welsh Government funding.
Appeal
Speaking at a cabinet meeting on July 18, Cllr Andrew Stevens, who has the transport brief, said the Walter Road cycle scheme now has £1.4 million of funding and was on a “key strategic corridor”.
It is hoped that cycling from Sketty and Uplands towards the city centre, with a dog-leg along The Kingsway, will be more appealing as a result.
Walter Road has restricted parking and bus stops on both sides of the road between Page Street and Brynymor Road. The new layout will consist of a segregated two-way cycle path on the south side of Walter Road. Some parking bays will remain between the cycle path and the road, and the road carriageway itself will be narrowed to accommodate the changes.
Cllr Stevens said the work will cause some disruption and that the authority was keen to work with residents, businesses and ward councillors.
Former Swansea West MP Geraint Davies held a public meeting about the Walter Road plans in February this year and said 83% of those who attended opposed them, while Uplands Party councillor Peter May said he felt the council should focus more on walking and pavement maintenance.
Cllr Stevens said there had been some amendments following engagement with those affected.
A further £38,500 has been awarded to the council towards a shared-use scheme for cyclists and walkers starting at Ffordd Beck, Gowerton, running past the Elba sports complex and on to Pont Y Cob Road, thereby avoiding the B4295-Pont Y Cob Road junction.
Active travel
Welsh ministers gave the council a further £1.1 million to develop future active travel schemes in Pontarddulais, from Penllergare Woods to Tircoed, from Gowerton to Penclawdd, from Mayals to Bishopston along Clyne Common, from Mumbles to Newton, and from the DVLA in Clase to Morriston Hospital. New monitoring equipment will also be bought to track pedestrian and cyclist movements on active travel routes.
The authority also secured £505,500 for on-street electric vehicle charging points in Mumbles and Port Tennant, although no exact locations have been disclosed, and also at Alderwood Road, West Cross, and car parks at Caswell, the bottom of Sketty Lane, and Pau Square in Swansea Marina.
There’ll also be hub charging at The Strand car park, which Cllr Andrea Lewis said she hoped would encourage taxi firms to switch to more electric vehicles.
Cllr Lewis said previous funding had led to 133 electric vehicle charging points at 44 locations in Swansea, but said some of the proposed new ones may need to relocate depending on how costly it was to secure grid connections.
Metro
The new transport funding also includes £2 million towards the creation of the Swansea Bay and West Wales Metro, incorporating rail, bus and active travel in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, and money to lower the 40mph section of Clasement Road, Morriston, to 30mph in response to speed surveys and road collision statistics.
Council leader Rob Stewart, who drives an electric car, said it was good to see a growing network of public and privately-funded charging infrastructure.
A report on July 18 by the UK Committee on Climate Change said nearly 100% of the UK car market share needed to be electric by 2030 – up from 16.5% today – for the UK to meet its “net zero” aspirations.
Cllr Stewart said: “If we are going to encourage more people to move away from petrol and diesel vehicles, having the ability to charge or refuel your vehicle with a different form of energy is going to be really important.”
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I don’t understand the cycle path obsession councils have in Wales. They cost an absolute fortune and cyclists almost completely ignore them!! We have miles of them here in Carmarthenshire but believe it or not the lycras prefer to deliberately meander in front of motorists causing tailbacks on very busy roads. Motorists have to chance their luck to get past them and if that particular motorist gets a little to close up goes two fingers or a shake of the head indicating that the fearful driver is a complete idiot. Personally I object to our money being squandered on such… Read more »
The money comes from the Active Travel Fund so it’s not spent from council budgets. I would be interested to know about the cycle lanes you refer to in Carmarthenshire? Are they shared lanes (basically a pavement) or are they paint on roads because I’m not aware that Carmarthenshire has a network of high quality cycle lanes that most people would want to use. In any case, a good cycle network would be great. They’ll allow the roads to move more people when the networks are complete, and create healthier and cheaper options for travel.
Road space for vehicles costs a fortune too. Why are people who choose to travel by car more worthy of public spending? That old trope about cyclists not using cycle paths is so tired. If a good quality, safe and convenient path is available it will get used – there are countless good examples out there. If it’s not being used, it’ll usually be because it is too badly designed or badly maintained to be of any use. I have one near me: you can’t safely join it from one direction, it’s obstructed by an overgrown hedge for much of… Read more »
I like cycle lanes. I use them all the time because many car drivers don’t seem to consider the highway code once they have passed their test, especially the new regulations.
More cycle lanes the merrier. We need to also consider safe storage along the routes.
I can give a cyclist a fact. Even though they well be a cyclist lane. How many use them, as they use the road instead. Because it’s smoother than the cycle lanes that is not full of debris. The council don’t maintain the lanes, when they are done. More convenience to the car, truck, bus users. So in my appinoin. Cyclists are a nuisance on the road. Who ignore the speed limits, run red lights, stay on the left when big vehicles turn left. So it’s always big vehicles fault. Cyclists should pay a road tax. To contribute to the… Read more »
Another monumental waste of money by Swansea City Council. There is already a designated cycle path running the length of Swansea Bay to the town centre and way beyond. It runs adjacent to this proposed thing and as within five minutes cycle ride of it. Forget the proposed bill, and disruption, the construction of this will cause as both will be double or more than that forecast. An absolutely crazy decision.
Heaven forbid people in Uplands might want to cycle into town via a convenient and quick route, rather than being sent all round the houses to one grudgingly condoned cycle route.
By your logic we may as well close Walter Road to cars completely, as there are other roads less than 5 minutes away.
You do know what adjacent means don’t you? If you think Walter road and the seafront are next to or adjoining each other, I’d love to know where you get your weed from.
2 years of road works and £3m just to cause grid lock in Swansea. Parked car doors opening on to the cycle path and people having to cross the cycle path just to get on a bus, how many accidents are there going to be? And not to mention the lost car parking spaces for the offices along that road. Majority of people were against this and again the council ignore the wish of Swansea residents.
I think we should ban cars. They are such a nuisance
I’m very confused? Have you not reduced the speed limits down to 20 mph.🤔🤔🤔🤔 So why on earth do cyclists suddenly need their own lane built? 🤔🤔😂😂