Carlisle City Council should be applauded for their investment into our cycle routes. A huge amount of money being spent in this area.
We've all seen the pavements - reassuring, solid white lines segregating bikes and prams , and we've probably peddled through combined bus and bike lanes too - an incentive to dust off the old bike, with all the attendant benefits to health, environment, parking, and the wallet.
Why then, don't more of us take to our bikes?
The solid white lines on the broad pavements confer no protection to cyclist or pedestrian (and prams), and If you've ever had the experience of cycling in the rain down Stanwix Bank, wearing glasses, trying to avoid prams, lamp-posts, and pedestrians you'll have something of an understanding of the compromises any City Council might have to implement, and how it might impact on you and i (and your pram!). In a nutshell, sharing a pavement with a bike isn't the best of solutions.
More recently, supermarket expansion in Carlisle is once more throwing into focus these conflicts.
A new Aldi Carlisle store will disrupt an existing (road-based) cycle route; relocating it onto the pavement.
Personally, I don't have the answers, but I'm keen to hear any views and experiences from either side of the broad white line.
