CycleFife

End of Round 1

Shortly before the local elections on 3 May, I wrote to each of the councillors in the West Fife and Coastal Villages ward of Fife Council.

Sent: 30 April 2012 through www.writetothem.com

Dear Bill Walker, Gerry McMullan, Bobby Clelland and William Ferguson,

I know you are probably all busy with activity related to the elections
on Thursday but having attended the Pedal on Parliament mass ride in
Edinburgh on Saturday to campaign for safer cycling in Scotland, I
wanted to raise the particular local issues around Limekilns that make
it difficult for cyclists, particularly children, to use local roads
and undertake normal journeys using bicycles rather than cars.

Many of the roads around Limekilns are dangerous for cycling on,
difficult to cross or in such a poor state that cycling on them is
impractical in all but the best weather. For myself, I am not too
concerned. I have been cycling for many years and ride quickly and
confidently but I want my children to grow up in a community where
cycling is a positive choice and can be undertaken safely. I recently
asked council officials about my son's travel to school when he moves
up to Woodmill and the response suggests that this will not be a
realistic prospect until Grange Road is improved to have a footpath
some time in the next 20 years! I am happy to provide copies of the
correspondence.

Fife has excellent provision for leisure cycling but provision for
cycling as a mode of transport - with safe, direct routes - seems
neglected. Edinburgh recently committed to dedicate 5% of its transport
budget to active travel - walking and cycling. Pedal on Parliament,
initiated by volunteers after cyclist deaths in Glasgow and Edinburgh
drew 3,000 people from across Scotland to ask that cycling be made
safer for everyone. In the new Council, what will Fife's commitment be?

Yours sincerely,

Gerry McMullan responded the next day with a nice supportive message and an hour later I was cc'd in an email from Bill Walker (sent as the MSP for Dunfermline) passing my email to Fife Council.

After some correspondence with these Fife Council officers, the two strands - my original email and the message above - have merged into a single outcome. Someone "should be able to come back to you before too long but I have asked him to give you an approximate timescale". That's coming back to me on the issues I've raised not a solution.

It's disappointing that Gerry McMullan wasn't re-elected to the Council. He had a good track record so I suspect he's suffered for Nick Clegg. There are now two new councillors in addition to the two that didn't reply the first time. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, assume they were busy with the election and try them again, particularly since the two Labour councillors are now part of the minority administration that will be running Fife.

Reply to first response

 Sent: 30 April 2012 in reply to the Council's first response.

Sorry for taking so long to reply. I rode most of the routes on Friday and made some notes as I went. It's going to make for a long email but I thought it would probably be best if I went through your response one road at a time, with my thoughts on your comments and my observations after riding them, bearing in mind that my original question related to my son's future travel to school and my current journeys to my daughter's nursery. I appreciate that things are different for a confident cyclist - we ride differently and personally, I think nothing of taking up a whole lane to prevent traffic squeezing past where I think it would be dangerous. The problem lies in the making of confident cyclists - encouraging people onto the road so that they can develop the confidence. I want it to be possible for my son to ride to school and, if that is possible, then I suspect we'll begin to make progress with cycling in general.

Limekilns foreshore - Is there any reason for this stretch being the last section of unsurfaced path? Is there a firm timescale for upgrading it?

Primrose Road - I appreciate that upgrading this to roads standard would perhaps not be the best use of you cycleways budget but aren't there upgrades between its current condition and roads standard. Incidentally, what is your cycleways budget? I rode this on Friday, after a few days of heavy rain. The main problem is that it is heavily rutted, leading to poor drainage and deep puddles. Who owns this road? Primrose Road is a great cycling route for two reasons - it is substantially more pleasant than riding on the path along the A985 where you are regularly buffeted by wind generated by lorries even on the pavement. It is also more direct than going along to King's Road (and certainly more so than going down Hilton Road just to come all the way back up again). It also means that you can get to Rosyth by crossing the A985 at the safest point - the junction out of Limekilns - rather than at Brucehaven. The Limekilns junction is much easier for a cyclist (and much more so for one with a child trailer) because a lot of the traffic is slowing to turn and there is a central refuge which means that I don't need both lanes to be free. Brucehaven has neither of these features. I need to be able to get across in one at a point where traffic is at its maximum speed or accelerating. Of course, the Limekilns junction could be made much safer, generally, by installing lights. What are the plans to improve safety at the Limekilns junction? Is there any monitoring of the impact of the 50mph limit on actual speeds? My perception, cycling and driving in and out of the village is that the 50mph limit has had little impact on driving speeds and at busy times serves only to increase the bunching of cars, making it harder to get out of the village.

Shared path along the A985 - I'm not clear which parts of the path along the A985 are officially shared and which aren't. None of it is signposted but you refer to a shared path from Brucehaven to the turnoff down to Rosyth Port. I have to confess that I smiled at what seemed to be a suggestion that a child should cycle down the rat run of Hilton Road to Castle Road and then all the way back up to Rosyth, adding an extra mile to the journey, to get to Woodmill, rather than along a footpath that almost no one uses. Perhaps I misunderstood. I thought it was also pretty funny that Transport Scotland considers this an acceptable alternative to widening the existing path. My intention is to treat the existing footpath along the A985 as a shared use path even though the implication of your message is that from Hilton Road to Kings Road this is not a shared use path. Is there any reason why, in its current form, it could not all be designated as shared use?

Kings Road roundabout - you say that traffic is slow going onto and off the roundabout. I've tried to cross that roundabout a number of times with Ellen in her trailer and it is essentially a game of chicken. I've watched other parents with their children on bikes waiting while cars drove straight across the roundabout, barely slowing. The central island is useless because although I can make it to the island, if there are any cars on Admiralty Road heading eastbound, stopping at the island means I have left the trailer on the westbound carriageway. The island isn't wide enough. What I need to do is go (the wrong way) on the westbound carriageway so that I can go onto the roundabout and stop on the road at the end of the island, where my bike and the trailer are out of the flow of traffic crossing the roundabout (although in the flow coming onto the roundabout from Castle Road). This seems to freak out the drivers enough that they urge me on to Kings Road. From there, it is safe to continue on the two lane road down to the residential service roads. I suppose I should go up Castle Road to the crossing and join the carriageway there and come back down to the roundabout. Neither of these ad hoc solutions are particularly satisfactory.

Rosyth Station roundabout - The safest place to be here is on the pavement at the garage. The pedestrian crossing at the Shell garage is unusable. The access ramp is too tight to use with a trailer. I assume it was designed with prams in mind. The funny little junction where the Kings Road service road connects with Primrose Lane is OK and there is a dropped pavement opposite. It's mainly a question of catching a driver's eye and waiting for a gap. Some of the cars come off that roundabout a bit quickly but there's enough room for them to notice the trailer and stop. It's not nice. It would be better if the pedestrian crossing was accessible.

Pitreavie Roundabout - The pavements around the Pitreavie roundabout are quite poor and very narrow. There's some good natured negotiation needed with pedestrians. There seems to be enough space to widen the footpath, which would at least make it easier (and less messy) for cyclists and pedestrians to avoid each other.

Carnegie Avenue - I didn't think these were shared use paths but for now they will have to be. The path on the opposite side might be fun on a mountain bike coming down but I wouldn't even consider it cyclable on the way up, with a child on a trailer or tagalong. Like Pitreavie Roundabout there needs to be some negotiation with pedestrians and there seems to be adequate room to widen the paved area to make this more pleasant. If the path on the opposite side were paved, I'd be happy to use that instead.

Grange Road - You're obviously aware of its reputation and perhaps it feels OK if you're confident but I have to point out that of all the people who have been killed cycling, I don't think their confidence or lack of confidence was ever felt to be a major factor in their death. It's not the case that confident cyclists do not get hurt or that the people who get hit were unconfident. Taking primary position in the road requires confidence but that has always seemed to me to be something that cyclists have had to do to curb driver's excessive confidence in their ability to drive at speed on narrow roads and to pass vulnerable road users leaving little room for error. The essential problem is the over-confidence of drivers who use Grange Road like a race track, in spite of its speed limits. I have no plans to send my 12 year old son up and down Grange Road in the rush hour. You're not seriously suggesting that anyone should, are you?

Phil, I appreciate your response but for all it's options and optimism you seem to be saying that there is no realistic option for a child from Limekilns to safely cycle to school (Woodmill) within the next 20 years since Grange Road is the key route and access to Grange Road is through Pattiesmuir. With care and good mudguards, Primrose Road could be negotiated but without a footpath, Grange Road is impassable for any but the most confident (reckless??) cyclist. If the intention is to put a shared use path on Grange Road, why can that not be done now rather than wait? I assume the intention is for the housing developer to pick up the cost?

More generally, could you send me details of the cycling organisations Fife Council consults with over its roads and transport plans.

Incidentally, thanks for the information about the Halfords Tour. I'll certainly be there and I'm sure I'll smile at the precautions put in place to ensure that professional cyclists come to no harm on Fife's roads. Perhaps you would be interested in the following blog piece about Pedal on Parliament (http://mccraw.co.uk/pedal-on-parliament-triumph/), which took place in Edinburgh on Saturday. I think the plan is for more local events next year so who knows, perhaps one in Dunfermline or Glenrothes.

First response

Received: 24 April 2012 in reply to my opening email

Thank you for your comments on the cycle network between Limekilns and Dunfermline. User feedback is a valuable tool for planning route improvements and new routes. The route you describe via the shore, Brucehaven and Pattiesmuir was originally developed as a leisure route and the variable surface was accepted on that basis. It's a fair comment that for commuting it is less suitable unless you are looking for a mountain bike commute. We hope to upgrade the Limekilns shore path over the next couple of years as we have had a fair bit of feedback about its condition and this is one of the last sections of unsurfaced path along the coastal route from the bridge to Kincardine. The link from Pattiesmuir to Primrose Lane is more problematic to upgrade as this is a field access and therefore subject to heavy agricultural traffic. Upgrading would have to be done to a road standard with the attendant high cost and our view is that this is not best use of our limited cycleways budget - rather we would look to improve an alternative route.

 

One option is to convince Transport Scotland to provide a shared use path alongside the A985 from Limekilns to Rosyth. However this is not seen as a priority for them primarily due to the presence of the existing route through Rosyth port. This route (actually NCN76) is another alternative you may wish to consider - from Brucehaven there is a short length of shared use footway alongside the A985 to the back access to the port. NCN 76 then follows the back road into Rosyth on the road. Unfortunately this is a bit of a rat run to the bridge but its actually OK to cycle on if you are fairly confident. From the roundabout with Castle Road there is a traffic free path up Castle Road back up to the A985 by the roundabout with Kings Road. There is an advisory crossing at the roundabout which is OK to use as traffic is slow going onto and off the roundabout. Up Kings Road the cycle route follows a mix of shared use path and the one way residential service roads which have a 20mph speed limit which takes you to Rosyth station. We are currently developing a new cycle route which will eventually go the length of Queensferry Road to the town centre. This will become the alternative to Grange Road in due course, however despite its reputation, I would say that Grange Road is actually OK to cycle on if you are confident  - I used to use it daily even before the speed limit reductions and didn't find it any worse than any other road in the area. Eventually Grange Road will get absorbed in the new strategic housing development planned for the next 20 years and will become a 30mph limit street with a shared use footway alongside it. In the meantime, from Rosyth station across the M90 spur roundabout, using the footway to cycle on is acceptable (These footways have had some local widening done and more will follow in the coming years). Along Carnegie Drive the footways aren't shared use. There is actually a separate cycle route parallel to Carnegie Road in the wooded area to the north of the road. However this is unsurfaced and somewhat overgrown - we are looking to improve this route in the near future either by surfacing this path or widening the footways along Carnegie Drive to shared use. [The references to Carnegie Road and Drive should both be references to Carnegie Avenue].

 

We are also looking to improve the routes through the Linburn greenspace area from Rex Park to Woodmill Road which would add another commuter option to the school once the Queensferry Road route is complete.

 

So I would say that there will be some considerable development of cycle routes in and round Dunfermline in the coming years and we expect to consult on development plans as we go along. The attached PDF plan shows the existing network and some of the routes described above - red denotes on road and green dashes traffic free.

 

Can I also take this opportunity to draw your attention to an important cycling event coming to Fife on the 15th of May - Round 1 of the Halfords 'Tour Series' professional cycle race is being held in Kirkcaldy and is a must for all cycling enthusiasts. There will also be various events throughout the afternoon including a chance to ride around the circuit for everybody.

 

The opening email

You possibly have about half a dozen copies of the same enquiry from me through the Council website or you have none at all. The reCaptcha on the enquiry form kept failing and I tried a few times. Anyway, I'm trying to track down some information about cycling to school. I accept it's a little premature but the discussions of cycle safety currently focused on Pedal on Parliament have prompted me to look into the options for my son to cycle to school when he moves up to Woodmill High School. The issue is a little distant just now. Ewan is currently 8 years old and attends Limekilns primary school. He currently walks to school but I’d like him to be able to maintain regular activity and cycling to school would be a good way to do that. We regularly cycle as a family so the distance from home to Woodmill would not in itself be a problem. I'm looking for suggestions about a safe route.

My consideration of his potential routes to school have also been prompted by my recent journeys taking our daughter to nursery by bike. I ride from Limekilns to the Careshare nursery at Carnegie College using what I think is the safest route and avoiding traffic as much as possible. The route I use is somewhat problematic because it crosses the A985, traverses very rough and muddy land from Pattiesmuir to Primrose Lane and relies on me knowingly (and illegally) riding on pavements along Primrose Lane, around the small roundabout at Primrose Lane / Queensferry Road and the main Pitreavie roundabout before I can join the shared path on Carnegie Drive (at least I think they are shared paths) up to the new developments around Duloch. I must say that the shared paths around Duloch are a real pleasure to cycle on.

The routes from Limekilns to Woodmill suggested by Cyclestreets (journey no 2009980) seem more problematic. One possibility would require my son to cross the A985 and go through the farmland at Pattiesmuir to Primrose Lane. However, it would then require him to cycle along Grange Road to the gasometers, cross into Izatt Avenue, crossing Hospital Hill and then winding through residential streets to Clunie Road and up to the school.

This route is problematic because it is both inconvenient and dangerous. The inconvenience is mainly in the very poor surface along the shore at Limekilns. It is unlit and often wet and muddy. The section of farm track from Pattiesmuir to Primrose Lane (which seems on maps to be called Primrose Road) is also unlit and in an extremely poor state. I cycled it on Friday and had to cycle through puddles so deep that in parts my shoes were under water.

From my perspective, this route has two main danger points for any cyclist, but especially for a youngster.

1. Crossing the A985 at the end of the Windylaw Path is difficult because it requires a good distance to be clear of traffic in both directions. At busy times, this is almost impossible as most of the time traffic is speeding along this road. I’m reasonably happy crossing the A985 with my bike and my daughter in her trailer, although I tend to do that at a quieter time than my son would need to if he were to get to school by 9am. Crossing back in the evening would be equally, perhaps more, dangerous.
2. Grange Road is notoriously dangerous and since I would not cycle it myself, I wouldn’t expect my son to.

The alternative route from Limekilns would be to join the A985 and use Limekilns Road, Nethertown Broad Street, Woodmill Street, Woodmill Terrace and Woodmill Road. I think none of these roads would qualify as a safe route for a child at morning or evening rush hours.

I realise that it will be a few years before son would be making the journey to High School and perhaps there are plans to make cycling from Limekilns a viable alternative to either being driven or taking the school bus. I would certainly hope that the choice would be available not only to school children but other people who would like to make cycling a positive transport choice instead of becoming increasingly dependent on cars.

What advice would the Council offer me to make it possible for my son to cycle to school?

Best wishes