A trio of councillors from across Stockport joined a recent guided cycle tour of the modern, best-practice infrastructure that has gone in across Salford and Manchester.
Cllr Geoff Abell (Marple North), Cllr James Frizzell (Reddish South), and Cllr Peter West (Norbury & Woodsmoor) met with members of Walk Ride Stockport to experience firsthand the positive difference made by the new protection provided for cycling in the heart of Greater Manchester.
We set off from St Ann’s Square in central Manchester and navigated a route towards Blackfriars Road; through the remainder of the Salford Trinity/Blackfriars Low Traffic Neighbourhood; along Salford’s protected cycle lanes at Oldfield Road and Liverpool Street; up and down the new Trafford Road cycleways; across the newly opened walking and cycling bridge to the Factory International venue; along the bi-directional Chester Road cycleways to Chorlton Road’s CYCLOPS junctions; along the paint protected Stretford Road; around the Medlock Street/Princess Road protected gyratory; back up along Oxford Road’s cycleway to Deansgate’s temporary mishmash lanes and into St Ann’s Square again…
The tour took in:
Wand-protected cycleways; Old modal filters; New modal filters; Kerb-protected cycleways; Bus stop bypasses; Priority across side roads; Signalised cycle crossings; CYCLOPS junctions; and more.
All of these road improvements – that has included reallocation of space to sustainable modes – can serve as inspiration for the other Greater Manchester boroughs such as Stockport to do the same. This will in turn contribute to the culture change needed to achieve the level of modal shift away from default car choices that lies at the heart of Transport for Greater Manchester’s Strategy.
Other councillors are invited to future safaris, and a walking safari will be planned for later in the year.
