Work will begin on new sustainable travel facilities along Ringwood Road in Ferndown on 1 November 2021. The project will take place in three phases and will involve the construction of a new 3.2km cycle and walking route and bus improvements along Ringwood Road between Longham mini roundabouts and Tricketts Cross roundabout.
It will eventually form part of the 27km green travel route linking Ferndown and Wimborne with Poole town centre, which includes the new cycle and walking path currently underway on Leigh Road and Wimborne Road West.
The first phase of work on Ringwood Road is between Longham Mini Roundabouts and south of Church Road. Due to complete around late April 2022, the work is being undertaken by Dorset Council and is part of the £100m+ south east Dorset Transforming Cities Fund1 programme, a joint project between Dorset Council and BCP Council, the largest ever programme of investment in sustainable transport infrastructure in the region.
Phase one improvements along the 1.5km section of Ringwood Road between Longham Mini Roundabouts and south of Church Road (November 1 2021 to April 2022) include:
- The existing footway on the western side of Ringwood Road will be upgraded providing a 3m-wide shared use path for walking and cycling between Pompeys Lane and Longacre Drive.
- The existing central island near Woodland Avenue will be widened providing a safe crossing point over Ringwood Road and access into Holmwood Park development with cycle signage through to Christchurch Road.
- Six bus stop locations along the route will be upgraded, including accessibility improvements.The pedestrian footway and crossing point at St Just Close will be improved.
The redundant speed camera on Ringwood Road, near Clifton Gardens, will be removed. - The Ringwood Road/Casterbridge Road signal-controlled junction will be improved and provide enhanced facilities for pedestrians.
- The junctions of side roads on the west side of Ringwood Road will be revised giving more priority to people walking and cycling.
- The existing footpath at the Church Road junction linking to Brabourne Avenue will be widened and converted to a footway/cycle route.
- Improvements between Longacre Drive and Church Road will take place as part of phase three works
Phase two work (provisional start/end construction dates: May 2022 to January 2023) on Ringwood Road between Penny’s Hill Junction (Victoria Road/New Road) and Tricketts Cross is still under design.
Phase three work (provisional start/end construction dates: February 2023 to June 2023) on Ringwood Road between Church Road and Penny’s Hill Junction (Victoria Road/New Road) is still under design and subject to further public consultation in early 2022.
A review of existing speed limits has been undertaken alongside the TCF scheme development and the speed limit will be reduced from 40mph to 30mph on the majority of the length of Ringwood Road and delivered alongside works.
To minimise traffic disruption and maximise efficiencies, construction will be undertaken in 400m sections. Traffic will be managed with a mix of traffic lights and stop/go boards with a reduced 30mph speed limit in place.
Plans for these improvements were informed by responses gathered during public engagement late 2020 and formal consultation which ran 10 May to 14 June this year. All responses were analysed and helped shape the final scheme designs. A report summarising the results of consultation is available here.
Councillor Ray Bryan, Dorset Council’s portfolio holder for Highways, Travel and Environment said:
“South East Dorset is one of the most congested regions in the country. Over 19,000 vehicles use Ringwood Road everyday including a large number of heavy goods vehicles. We need to provide alternative ways for people to get to work, education, the shops or leisure, particularly for shorter journeys.
“One of the main reasons preventing people from cycling is traffic safety concerns and there is currently limited safe cycling provision on this busy road. This dedicated cycling and walking space will address this issue, creating more of a neighbourhood community road and helping residents enjoy the area more by foot, bike, scooter, mobility scooter and wheelchair.
“The improvements will transform local travel, help to reduce road congestion and pollution, improve air quality and bring economic and health benefits.”
Find out more about Transforming Travel’s Ringwood Road Ferndown cycleway scheme.
What was the point in having the consultation? Most people disagree strongly yet the council still go ahead. Where is democracy?
I didn’t see the consultation so didn’t contribute but in principle separating cars and bikes is a good idea. However an 11 m wide cycle lane at the expense of very narrow car lanes is over kill increasing traffic congestion along wimborne rd. Also no consideration has been given to cars that may need to park. I can see that they will end up parking on the cycle lane as there is nowhere else. It remains to be seen how many cycles will actually use it. It’s all very well trying to encourage sustainable transport but many people in the area do not have the physical capacity.
You refer to a cycle route linking Ferndown and Wimborne with Poole town centre. This raises two issues:
The route does not reach Wimborne, it finishes 1 km from Wimborne Square.
Following your route from Wimborne to Poole, via Longham, is 10.6 km compared to the direct route along Gravel Hill of 5.9km. I know which I would use.
So as expected the new cycle route will be pretty empty with cars heavily congested shoved into narrow lanes in the middle.
I suggest someone just bans cars rather than trying to make everyone’s life a misery. At least then we will know that we must stay at home or within walking distance of any facilities and live our lives as if we were in the 19th C.
I thought we had left the EU. Why are you still using KM & not miles?
Grants for transforming travel is still our money being used or wasted
on scheme’s which very few actually use. Reminds me of government encouraging people to buy Diesel cars, now we are aware of that idea.
Disruption for the sake of it. Very few if any using these over designed cycle paths. A complete waste of taxpayers money. Why do the powers that be assume that everyone is capable of riding a bike at all let alone safely.
It reminds me of a green cycle lane that appeared in the middle of Victoria/wimborne rd junction a few years ago and disappeared within weeks because it was totally impractical.
Will be very interesting if someone would calculate how many more people on bikes, foot, wheelchairs etc will use this new lane.
Fail to see how it will improve traffic flow – increase congestion more like.
Zero democracy in Dorset.
“Figure 1 shows that over one quarter of respondents (26%) strongly agreed with the proposals and almost three fifths (57%) strongly disagreed.”
And from this result the council concluded :
Plans for these improvements were informed by responses gathered during public engagement late 2020 and formal consultation which ran 10 May to 14 June this year. All responses were analysed and helped shape the final scheme designs.
So with the vast majority being against the scheme the council decided to go ahead. Why bother with a consultation? It is totally wasting council tax payers money and clearer has no bearing whatsover on the decision.
I agree with most of the above posts.
I very much doubt that these enhanced walk/cycle ways will ever enjoy the usage the time, money and space deployed justifies.
Moreover I would predict that within 5 years we will arguing that the same space should be converted for road widening to alleviate congestion!
Agreeing with most other comments.. plus…
1. When will there be a curb on large lorries using this route to Poole, notoriously busy and polluted with these trucks.
2. Will there be some checks to ensure cyclist (many who campaign vigorously for cycle ways) actually use them and stay off the road? This is not the case on New Road nor is it so on the road around the airport.. despite the cycle path!
3. The disruption for this part of Ringwood Road over the period indicated will be horrendous.. what diversions or alternative routes will be offered?
Unlike the comments here that come from an anti-cyclist point of view, I want to express my thanks to the Dorset council that a very dangerous stretch of road for cycling will be made safer. The Route from Wimbourne to Trickets cross either via Canford Bottom or Longham has seen 28 serious injuries to a cyclist involving a collision with a car in the last 20 years. My wife and I rarely use our car as we try to use our bikes as much as possible. I hope that the negativity people show to these schemes will now take into account the increased safety we will now experience.
Source (https://bikedata.cyclestreets.net/) Police accidents
Well its good for you and other cyclists but what about the large population of people who are unable to cycle have you seen how many buses go to Poole from Ferndown none after 5.45 pm and Sundays 3 buses from 12.20 and via Ringwood. No good if you have to go to Hospital neither is cycling into Wimborne as the final mile into town is on a narrow road with narrow pavements no way would I consider cycling there.
btw I do cycle but also use my car and will continue to even when Ferndown becomes a car park because I feel its safer than using a cycle route then having to get onto a busy road because the cycle route has stopped. Ham lane is an example having to cross that busy road to use the cycle lane on both sides of the road.
I have never posted a comment like this before but this cycle path construction through Wimborne, and surrounding area, makes me quite angry.
I travel through Wimborne by car, frequently, and at a various times of the day and night, on my way to Christchurch. To date I have not seen one cyclist using the cycle path that has been recently built. The cost, both in money and in disruption during construction, doesn’t equate in anyway to it’s use, ie, rarely.
Considering the state of the road surfaces in some areas, pot holes and so forth, surely any time and money would have been better spent dealing with these issues.
And I see that even more cycle path construction is about to be undertaken. Who on Earth is responsible for implementing such a costly, useless exercise. I am not anti cyclist, just anti waste of money, manpower, time and limited County Council resources.