Exciting New Active Travel Initiative.
Pedalling in high gear, the recently established Wexham Cycling Campaign is already showing signs of being a key player in the development of infrastructure to encourage everyday journeys on foot or by cycle in the town and its environs. The WALES ACTIVE TRAVEL legislation places this responsibility on government itself, but at the same time acknowledges the important role to be played by individual citizens, and the voluntary organisations speaking on their behalf. Wrexham Cycling Campaign is just such an organisation.
Campaign Coordinator, Warren Davies, tells us a shopping list has already being forwarded to the highway authority for consideration..
Warren calls upon the public to back their endeavors by making contact through its lively Wrexham Cycling Campaign website.
Perhaps YOU have an idea to help Active Travel in the area. This is your chance to do something about it. ACT NOW – and acquire new friends with similar views to your own.
Action suggestions…
1) Parking on the Pavement/Cycleway near B&Q has been so prolific
that the paint has been worn away.
2) There is potential for a cycleway from Marchwiel to Industrial
Estate using the old railway and a footpath/track.
3) Under Railway bridge from Felin Puleston, A5152 to Foxwood Drive,
the gate is difficult to get around quickly with a bike, but this is a
potentially useful route by bike.
4) Fairfield Street near St Giles School can be used to access the
town from Erddig, but turning right out of Fairfield Street onto
Poplar Road is difficult. Enough space exists to make a cycle path
that could link to St Giles Link road down the existing infrastructure
on Madeira Hill.
5) Yorke Street is a key entrance to the town if cyclists have used
the Madeira Hill infrastructure. It could do with a segregated
cyclepath as it is steep and tends to be busy. It would then join up
to the pedestrianised area of the town centre.
6) Bryn Estyn lane road surface is poor. Continuing to the industrial
estate the road is often covered in mud and other debris. This is a
key Active Travel access route to the industrial estate, and could do
with being kept in better condition.
7) At the end of Bryn Estyn lane, where it joins the new link road,
‘Industrial Estate Road’, cyclists can must turn right onto the cycle
path, directly in the path of any vehicle potentially doing a fast
turn off the dual carriageway towards clays golf course. This is a
danger point on a high use cycleway, and I’ve heard of near misses at
this point.
8) Llay New Road is the most direct and obvious way for people from
Llay, Bradley and Rhosrobin to access town. The shared path could do
with more signs along the length to ensure everybody knows that it is
available as a shared path
9) Rhosddu Road, B5425, Current provision from the Lemon Tree
roundabout is circuitous and difficult to use. This sort of provision
should be improved if it is to be extended Northward as indicated by
the INM proposal (INM-WX-WRE-C070).
10) Holt Road, A534, current shared path provision as you head
towards the Tesco roundabout is difficult to join and the surface is
very poor.
This could be a useful route, but provision needs to start sooner, at
least at junction with Borras Road, but ideally covering the length of
Holt Road as proposed by INM routes WX-WRE-C009 & C019.
11) Smithfield Road around Eagles Meadow to the A525 has no provision
for cycling. From the roundabout there, there is no safe cycleway to
St Giles link road infrastructure.
12) Shared cycle paths by Tesco/Eagles Meadow are very difficult to
use due to high pedestrian numbers and pedestrians being unaware of
the shared nature of the paths.
13) Cars parked in cycleway on Marsh Crescent (off Rhosnesni lane), obstructing the cycleway.
14) Not obvious coming off Marsh Crescent heading East where the cycle lane re-starts.
15) Marsh Crescent is a sizeable diversion from the route along Rhosnesni Lane.
16) Junction crossings along Rhosnesni lane are very deep e.g. into Oswald Way, and make the route much longer. Tight angles at the crossing points make turns very slow.
17) Large speed bump on Rhosnesni Lane near the school has no passing point for cyclists. If re-surfaced, it may be worth including a dip for cyclists in the cyclelane.
18) Parked cars on Dean Road, outside the shop mainly, cause deviation from the cycle lane into the carriageway on a busy section.
19) Parked cars in the Southbound cycle lane in Chirk. On the main road through Chirk, the B5070, around the junction with West View especially, cars block the cycle lane completely forcing cyclists into the main carriageway.
20) Joining the main carriageway at the roundabout at the end of the cycleway along Hugmore Lane is very difficult when the roundabout is busy. Coming off the cycleway onto the roundabout near JCB is very difficult in the morning. Even getting around the roundabout, using the cycleway is difficult due to volume and speed of traffic passing the crossings. Perhaps some kind of angled feeder lane off Hugmore Lane could merge cyclists into the carriageway more easily.
21) Missing 75m of cycleway along Tuttle street between infrastructure on St Giles link road and the bottom of Yorke Street. St Giles infrastructure is very good, so it’s a shame it doesn’t take you all the way into the town ‘centre’.
22) Great cycleway from Watery Road to Croesnewydd Road. Segregated from traffic, wide, smooth surface, good sight lines for pedestrians. Links up shops, housing and the hospital.
23) Heading from Bersham Road, and crossing Victoria Road into Hampden road is a good idea for avoiding traffic, however crossing Victoria Road is difficult as the road is wide, and parked cars block your view. Perhaps protection could be added here to allow cyclists to move out further across the road.