According to the Highways Agency, the money will provide new road markings, cycle lane and crossing points, new flyovers to connect existing national cycle routes, dropped kerbs and vegetation clearance refreshed and new signage for cyclists and drivers.
Obviously this is good. Extra money is always good, assuming it is spent wisely, but compared with Highway Agency's £1.9b annual budget for maintaining the roads the sum does seem rather, well, mean.
Setting aside the appalling state of much of the current National Cycle Network (a tangled mess of poorly constructed or unsigned routes interspersed with short pieces of brilliance), wouldn't it be better to think a bit bigger and go for something more inspiring than dropped kerbs and vegetation clearance (which, surely, is no more than annual maintenance dressed-up as "improvements")? How about building an actual network of cycle routes that could be used, safely, by riders of all experience levels?
Here's what we need to do. Whenever we plan roads, add lanes or conduct non-trivial maintenance we should also build cycle paths. We should include cycle paths by default and they should be built to a high standard; segregated, metalled, lit and sign-posted. We should aim to make it possible to cycle easily and safely between our towns and cities using a network of paths that mirrored our motorway and A-road network.
It's a simple vision with huge benefits. Objections?
