Aberdeen Cycle Forum

Changes to National Cycle Route 1

National cycle Route 1 stretches from Unst in Shetland down to Dover, passing through Aberdeen en route.
Within the city the current route is predominantly on-road and runs from Cove Bay,
along Greyhope Road, Market Street, Broad Street, Old Aberdeen, Persley
Den, Mugiemoss Road, Stoneywood Road and onto the Formartine & Buchan
Way.

Aberdeen City Council is proposing a new route which will result in
over 25km of off-road pedestrian and cycle routes through Aberdeen, and
a new cycle/ pedestrian bridge across the River Don.

These proposals are now open for public consultation, maps, routes
background, and requests for feedback can be found on Aberdeen
City Council’s website

A exhibition of the plans open to all will be held at the Townhouse on 30th January 19:30-20:30hrs. The closing date for feedback is 16th February 2007

Continued Implementation of “Pinch Points”

Despite ACF’s reservations and discussions with Aberdeen City Council
more and more traffic islands are planned for Aberdeen streets
in the coming months, these are being implemented for a number of reasons including
“traffic calming”.

From a cyclists perspective these islands reduce the width of the road and
create a “pinch point” there is frequently not room for both a car and a cycle
to pass. At this point the motorist should wait for the cyclist to go
through the crossing before overtaking. Of course we all know some
motorists are not the best at judging the available space so the cyclist
may find themselves “pinched”.

You can read our concerns in the latest correspondence with the council over this, having
exhaused dialouge with the council we are left with no option but to lodge a formal objection
to the Environment and Infrastructure committee over the next batch.

If you would like to read and have your say on “Pinch Points” then visit our e-consultation pages.

New Cycle Stands at Aberdeen Railway Station

The first results of ACF’s project “Take a stand” are now visible.
After discussions with First-Scotrail, Aberdeen railway station now
has 8 Sheffield stands outside the station. Not quite as many as we
wanted, nor at our ideal prefered location but it is a step in the
right direction.

The stands are to the right of the steps that lead down to the station
forecourt from the Pelican crossing. Feel free to send feedback on them to:

takeastand@aberdeencycleforum.org.uk

We are continuing discussions with First-Scotrail over more, and hopeully geting a cover in place, these will of course be easier if the original batch are used!
In addition, we are in communication with a number of the locations identified
during the survey, this is a long process but we are
hopeful of encuraging the owners at some of the other “worst loctions in Aberdeen” to install stands.

Launched in June this year , “Take a Stand” is designed to identify
privately owned locations (e.g. shops, retail parks etc.) where
abscent or poor cycle parking facilities were detering people from
travelling by bike within the city. To learn more and to nominate
your own sites Visit our main Take a Stand page .

<img src="include/ht/023_1.jpg" width="338" height="242" border="0"

New Cycle Stands at Aberdeen Railway Station