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Environment Friendly Transport News from Milton Keynes
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| A Bridge Too Far? |
Peter, Ian and Alan write...
The bridge across the River Ouse at Haversham will one day complete
a valuable link between the redway network in Milton Keynes
and the lanes of Northamptonshire.
The off-road route will help cyclists aviod
the long climb up through Haversham by following a track with a much
easier gradient. Most hills on redways are steeper than the road routes.
This route is part of Route 6 of the Sustrans National Cycleway Network which was launched in June to coincide with national bike week. The Ouse Valley 'Millennium Bridge' project was meant to be completed in time for the start of bike week. But if wasn't. The local authority put up notices on the path suggesting an opening date of September. Some observers wondered, which September? One cause for concern with this potentially useful link is that the track runs along side the railway and may attract youngsters in their early teens, an age group notorious for their desire to play silly games of dare. It would be appropriate for railtrack to replace the fencing along side the railway before the path opens. And to get the bridge open before next September. Peter Batchelor I was in the Haversham area and thought I would have a look at our new Millenium Bridge. It's quite impressive but not very practical at the moment for cyclists with a 2 foot step at each end! The visit was tinged with disappointment because as usual the route seemed to be let down by the detail - a right angle turn from under the Haversham viaduct over another steep wooden bridge leading to a gate. Fair enough you've got to keep live stock out of areas, but was any thought given to the plight of a cyclist (perhaps with laden panniers or a trailer) having to open this gate and struggle through and then start from 0 MPH and cycle up and over this bridge? If it's going to be a cycle route then lets have the best they can give us, not bits designed originally for pedestrian access only. I also noticed that NCN route 6 has now abandoned the shorter Haversham Road route into New Bradwell and now follows the river path all the way round to the allotments on the Bradwell Road and then back to the crossing of Newport Road by the Stonebridge roundabout. Perhaps we're not supposed to cycle on roads! Ian Norman The contractors have been sacked for poor performance. The story was in the Citizen a few weeks ago. The council now have to find a new contractor to finish the job. I know it well. In June I cycled over that bridge more than a dozen times for a BBC film crew who were doing a piece about the NCN. Adam Goddwin (MKC), Simon Pratt (Sustrans) and me (Green Party) were filmed and interviewed about NCN for an item on Look East. I argued against that circuitous route when it was first proposed several years ago. I suggested that they should extend the redway which goes as far as old Wolverton roundabout along Haversham Road to near the river Ouse bridge, about 500 metres. This was deemed too expensive. Instead they wasted money on converting about 50m of pavement into a redway alongside Newport Road. Adam Goodwin assures me that if there is some traffic calming on Haversham Road then the NCN can use that road at some later stage. Alan Francis |