Bypass common sense

In April this year, a new cycle bypass (apparently, that’s what it’s called, so we’ll go with that for now) was opened in Brockenhurst. At a cost of £6250 this new piece of cycling ‘infrastructure’ creates a 3m cycle lane that is both baffling and dangerous, as the before and after photos show below. Unfortunately, it has created a hazardous situation for cyclists choosing to use the lane.

A potentially dangerous situation for cyclists

This is what the junction between Station Approach, Lymington Road and Brookley Road looked like before the work was carried out (thanks to Google):

This is what the same area of road looks like after work was completed in April:

As can be seen from the above photos, the new cycle bypass makes no real difference at all to cyclists turning left out of Station Approach. It was already an easy junction for a cyclist to turn left. It does however set up a potentially dangerous situation for cyclists who choose to use the new cycle bypass for two reasons:

1. Those who know the area and/or are observant will have noticed that there is on street parking that goes right up to the exit point of the cycle bypass - it could not be closer! This means that a car can be legally parked right at the point where the cyclist needs a clear road ahead in order to re-join the roadway on Brookley Road safely.
2. Thanks to the new cycle bypass a cyclist can now turn left onto Brookley Road without needing to look right onto Lymington Road (the main road that goes over the level crossing) to check for traffic. Potentially, the cyclist turns left onto the bypass, meanwhile a car comes over the level crossing and also turns left into Brookley Road. At this point the cyclist will be exiting the cycle bypass onto Brookley Road where an unhappy meeting of car and cyclist occur. On exiting the bypass a cyclist has to look behind them (and then some, think 190 degrees) to check properly for traffic. I had to do this very thing here today. It’s crazy. It’s unsafe.

It’s understood that the NFNPA (New Forest National Park Authority) commissioned Hampshire County Council to carry out the work as part of a number of schemes aimed at improving accessibility for cyclists in Brockenhurst. Let’s hope that in future they consult some cyclists for the other schemes as well as using a bit of good old common sense, so as to avoid this type of mishap. It sounds like Hampshire County Council are reviewing the bypass, so it will be interesting to see what the outcome is.

Meanwhile, if you do decide to use this cycle bypass, then be careful!

Allez!