Cycle Forum committee members Jon Spencer and Mike Dobson took a cycle tour of the city on Monday night Portsmouth City Council’s Assistant Head of Transport Marc Griffin and Active Travel Officer James Roberts. Along for the ride was Simon Pratt, regional director of Sustrans. The aim was to review the current cycle provision in the areas visited and we plan to take more rides to cover other areas in future.

The areas we covered were:

• Guildhall Walk. Difficulty of accessing narrow contraflow cycle lane to Winston Churchill Ave. Convoluted routes mean many cyclists take illegal shortcuts across pavements in this area.
• King’s Rd / Museum Rd roundabout which seems to assume that cyclists will always turn left.
• Insufficient cycle parking on Osborne Rd.
• Difficulty in entering the redesigned Palmerston Rd South. This allows cyclists to ride contraflow but there isn’t room for them to enter if vehicles are using the junction.
• Shipwright’s way grass / mesh cycle path on Common near Duisburg way. Unlit, rough, wet, slippery. Wholly unsatisfactory.
• Pier Rd / Clarence Pier. Lots of road space. No cycle provision at all despite a fatality here in 2010.
• Clarence Esplanade - complete lack of cycle provision. Westbound cyclists passing close to rear of echelon parked cars. A highly dangerous configuration.
• South Parade / A288. Cyclists forced fo cross and recross to reach A288 where they will shortly be forced to cross again to reach seafront cycle route.. No provision at all at South Parade.
• A288 / St Helen’s parade. Sweeping left turn onto St Helen’s parade encourages drivers to take the bend at speed. If a cyclists is heading straight on along the Esplanade they can routinely expect to be overtaken and cut up by left turning vehicles.
• Seafront Cycle Route. One of the best cycle routes we have but sadly below par. The route is narrow at its widest, but frequently further narrowed by island bus stops. These are hard to see in the dark and have caused accidents where cyclists have ridden into them.
• Henderson Rd. Seafront Cycle Route ends abruptly and cyclists have to cross two lanes of traffic on a poorly sighted bend. This is often obstructed by illegally parked vehicles.
• Bransbury Park. Narrow route, obstructed by hard to see low bollrads and a very narrow chicane at the North End. This is the first part of a quiet route from the seafront to the Eastern Rd which is unsigned.
• Route through St James’s Hospital to Eastern Rd. This is a quiet route to connect the Eastern Rd and the seafront. It is potentially at risk from the redevelopment of St James’s hospital. It works well if you know the city well, but would be impossible to find and follow for a visitor. Many twists, turns, and give way points.
• Eastern Rd cycle path. Issues with narrowness - especially in segregated sections where it is impossible for two cyclists to pass without one crossing the line. Poor surface, unlit sections hidden behind trees put off female cyclists. Lack of waiting space at crossings, e.g. Tangier Rd. Very difficult & dangerous junctions (e.g. Anchorage Rd).
• Eastern Rd bridge. Very narrow and difficult for two cyclists to pass. Proximity of high speed traffic make this intimidating. At night the problem is worsened by the glare of headlights from oncoming vehicles.
• Farlington Roundabout. Extremely convoluted & time consuming route for cyclists. Encourages risk taking.
• Eastern Rd Rail Bridge. Narrow route further narrowed by bus stops. Hard to used junction at Walton Rd where cyclists is expected to turn 90 degrees in about a metre of space.
• Tudor Cres / Peronne Rd Bridge. Excellent Bridge for cyclists and pedestrians over A27 but very difficult to access from the South.
• A2047 Coach & Horses Gyratory. High speed traffic often turns across cyclists. Inconsistently marked bus lanes. One of the most dangerous spots in the city.
• A2047. The most dangerous Rd in the city. Bus lane part way southbound, nothing northbound. Narrow and very busy and highly congested by legally and illegally parked vehicles.
• Fratton Rd / Victoria Rd N roundabout. Convoluted and time consuming route for cyclists. Crossing of Fawcett Rd unclear and off road route on Victoria Rd N very narrow. Markings on cycle crossing of Victoria Rd N have been burnt off. This was a really useful opportunity to explain in detail why some of the infrastructure in the city fails to encourage cycling. We’d like to extend our thanks to Marc, James and Simon for taking the time out to do this.