Over the past two weeks, citizens have lobbied Manchester City Council to take bold action and install pop-up cycle lanes (see here, here, here and here). The reply has been mostly silence and the occasional drive-by tweet.
This morning, Weds 24th June, pop-up cycle lanes have been installed along the A56 from the border with Trafford to Deansgate Interchange, but not by the Council. Rather, this has been done (and will doubtless soon be removed) by citizens.
According to one tweet, it’s Extinction Rebellion Manchester behind the action.
Congrats to @XR_MCR for doing what @ManCityCouncil wouldn't.
The A56 popup cycle lanes are now extended from the trafford border to the deansgate Interchange Cycleways, so you can now get to the city centre in safety from Sale, 5 miles away! pic.twitter.com/suFNMJCvCp
— bicycles, beans, beer 🚴🌱🍻Ⓥ (@MCRCycleSam) June 24, 2020
Today, at 1.30 Climate Emergency Manchester is holding an online ‘pre-meeting’ before the Neighbourhoods and Environment Scrutiny Committee at which cycle lanes will (we hope) be discussed. If you want to join, email us for the address and the password, on contact@climateemergencymanchester.net.
Meanwhile, there’s this post about the connection between cycle lanes and our petition for a seventh scrutiny committee we’d like you to read and share.
Update: Here is the very impressive video of the action:
This morning, local activists did what Manchester City Council failed to do in 12 weeks, in 20minutes! #SafeStreetsSaveLives#BuildBackBetter@ClimateEmergMcr @GlobalJustManc @McrClimate @RisingUpMcr pic.twitter.com/voPaFCUaVs
— Extinction Rebellion Manchester (@XR_MCR) June 24, 2020
I spent some time on the A56 this morning. Problem is no cyclists are using the suggested route of the pedestrian crossing, and there is always confusion at the roadworks. 80% of cyclists headed straight for the junction with the traffic, one nearly got taken out by a car turning left in the middle lane. One cyclist was lucky and got to the junction when the lights were red and just got across using the pedestrian crossing. Why not direct cyclists down Ellesmere Street? Turning right at the end brings you to the Deansgate interchange cycle lights junction and to safety.