As part of work to resurface Commercial Road following the removal of the old Weymouth Branch Line tracks, new lining has been installed.
Two on-road cycle lanes, one on each side of the road, have been introduced to encourage and help facilitate cycling where traffic volume and speeds are relatively low between Westham Bridge and Lower St Alban Street.
Cllr Ray Bryan, Portfolio Holder for Highways, Travel and Environment, said: “There are several cycleways that converge at Westham Bridge but stop before getting any further into the town centre. As part of the peninsula regeneration, we hope to connect the area to the extensive cycle network around the town.
“With the removal of the tracks, Commercial Road will become much safer for cyclists and we’ve taken the opportunity to install these cycle lanes while replacing road markings after our recent resurfacing works.”
As part of the work, the centre line along Commercial Road between Westham Bridge and Lower St Alban Street has not been replaced as its removal will help further reduce vehicle speeds.
This road layout gives priority to cyclists – with vehicles slowing down to pass each other safely or overrunning into the cycle lane if safe to do so.
Further proposed cycle links in the town centre, which will require legal orders to introduce, will be consulted on early next year.
Relatively inexpensive, positive actions like this, which raise the profile of cyclists and call them to Driver’s minds, must be worth trialling – and closely monitoring too.
It amazes me that a white line painted on the road can save cyclists from injury. Does it have some sort of force field to stop vehicles hitting you?
Oh dear! Once the railtrack was removed from Commercial Road, the biggest hazard to those on two wheels had disappeared with the ironwork. Cyclists could now safely own the road where safety required it and the road was wide and surefooted enough for vehicles to ‘safepass’ with at least the requisite 1.5m separation.
Painted white lines are not safe cycleways. The only safe infrastructure is a segregated one. Former London Mayor Boris subsequently commented that “if I’d have known then what I know now, I would have gone straight in …. with [segregated] cycle superhighways”.
Now I feel compelled to cycle within the 1.5m lane. Leaving a minimum safe-ish 300mm margin from the kerb motorists will feel permitted to pass close to the white line at only 1.2m separation. I will risk abuse and an even a closer (punishment) pass if I try to own the road in a safety moment.
The Council’s press release goes on to say “This road layout gives priority to cyclists – with vehicles slowing down to pass each other safely or *overrunning into the cycle lane if safe to do so*. In my experience what an average motorist considers safe and what as *actually* safe are poles (or least 1.8m) apart (ideally with a clear carriageway in the opposite direction). The Debenhams bus stop on a blind corner with an encroaching parked bus (as in the image) and now a much narrower space for cars is surely where the first incident will occur!
If a cycle lane is not safe for an 8 year old it is not safe for any cyclist. The extra 300mm recently added to the ‘cycle lanes’ in Dorchester Road to and from Wey Valley School should have been used to form a raised kerb, protected lane. Not possible in Commercial Road so until the whole of the town centre is eventually pedestrianised to revitalise a post COVID, post Brexit bleakscape let’s remove the paint as soon as possible. The painted lanes represent discouragement rather than encouragement to safer cycling.
There is not space on the road for a bus and a car to pass without going into the cycle lane. The cyclist may think he has right of way but they are the ones who will be killed. You should have limited it to one narrow cyclist lane.
The “Weymouth Branch Line tracks” is a bit missing leading! The line to the harbour was a tramway, and which means it lawfully operated on a highway with its own special rights of way, and not on private land. Probably why it took so long for the Council to get it removed.