Pop up cycle lanes across Liverpool have become a ‘maintenance nightmare’, according to a report by the city council.
A number of temporary routes were installed across the city in the summer of 2020 in a bid to encourage more active travel. The schemes were funded by the Liverpool City Combined Authority and the Department of Transport and aimed to support the process of relaxing travel restrictions following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Seven schemes across the city were outlined with the first round of funding going towards pop-up cycle lanes on West Derby Road, Sefton Park and Commercial/Vauxhall Road. In January the city council received a further £1.9m to go towards three more routes, but the council has now said it is taking a different approach to those installed in the summer of 2020.
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In a council report, it states: “Routes 1, 2 and 3 were installed quickly on carriageway using wands to separate cyclists from other traffic. However these have proved difficult to maintain and it is proposed to learn lessons from these routes.”
One issue that arose was on West Derby Road where the implementation of the temporary lane proved controversial. A consultation on a new design was carried out after the scheme was dismantled last year.
On Wednesday, Council Officer Stephen Rimmer delivered a presentation to the Climate Change and Environment select committee where he said a new approach would be taken on the remaining schemes. He said routes 4,6 and 7 (East Lancashire Road – City Centre, Gateacre – City Centre, Liverpool Loop South) were initially going to be similar to the first three and comprise of bolted down cylinders that were painted with additional signage, but new challenges and the cost of maintaining the temporary lanes has forced a rethink.
He added: “The temporary cycle lanes are becoming a maintenance nightmare. They can’t be swept and the wands are costing quite a lot in maintenance costs.”
Mr Rimmer added that the funding provided was also not enough to deliver lanes across the full routes. Instead the council will now look to “fill in the gaps” between existing infrastructure and schemes.
This is being done in conjunction with the Region’s cycling and walking commissioner, Simon O’Brien, who was tasked with outlining where the key active travel infrastructure ‘gaps’ remain across the city. In January, Mr O’Brien told the ECHO: "We have nice infrastructure at The Strand, Regent Road and Leeds Street, but they all don't meet so they're all just islands. The disconnects are only small and appear all over the city region.”
During the same Climate Change and Environment meeting, Riverside Labour Cllr Hetty Wood questioned why many of these cycle routes were being put on busy bus routes and not on quieter roads parallel. Cllr Wood suggested more people might be encouraged to cycle if the routes were more approachable for beginner cyclists.
Greenbank Cllr Laura Robertson Collins shared a similar view. She said: “I don’t know why we’re continuing with expensive cycling infrastructure that is directly in conflict with bus routes. We want to support public transport and we want to support active travel.
"We have a lot more roads than we have bus routes. We’re slowing buses down as well and conflicting with public transport.”
Cllr Robertson Collins also questioned whether the consultation processes for the schemes risked only taking into account the preferences of experienced cyclists. She said: “We keep asking all the keen cyclists who want to go fast on these strategic routes. But we need to ask people who do not cycle very much - they’re the ones we need to get cycling. The keen cyclists are cycling already.”
Responding, Karen Agbabiaka, interim chief highways officer, said the council was setting up an active travel forum which will include all levels of cyclists - as well as holding public consultations on certain routes.
