Funding
The good news is that Reading Borough Council has been awarded £838,604 in Active Travel Fund (ATF) grant from the government. At the time of writing, full details of the funding and any conditions on how the money can be spent are awaited.
The funding announced includes both capital funding to construct new schemes as well as revenue funding for scheme design and cycle promotion activities.
We will put together an update on the RCC website as soon as we have further details.
Shinfield Road
Just over half of the originally planned scheme has been completed. Whilst there appears to be no progress with securing additional funding to complete the scheme, RBC is looking to address issues with the scheme which have been built so far.
It is planned to install the final signing and lining in April, which will involve overnight road closures to allow old markings to be removed before the new ones are installed.
Reading Kidical Mass identified dangerous kerb upstands where cyclists transition from the road to the cycle track. RBC has agreed to improve these problem areas.
The problems of flooding on the cycle track have been widely reported, especially on the section close to the Christchurch Green junction. RBC has arranged for several existing gullies to be cleared and are investigating new or moved gullies with Thames Water.
Bath Road and Castle Hill
RBC will be reconsulting on revised proposals for the scheme. Part of this is due to increasing overall costs, but also to minimise costly changes to the traffic signals at the Castle Hill roundabout. The revised scheme will start at the town centre end of the proposed route so that it links into the existing cycle network.
Capability and Ambition Programme
The Active Travel Fund Grant also includes funding for measures to support and encourage active travel. These include funding for the Active Travel Officer, which includes working with schools, free adult cycle training and bike maintenance, Dr Bike events, as well as the Cycle Festival on Sunday 14 September.
There is funding for around 36 bike pods, which are an alternative design of secure cycle parking stand, that will be trialled in the town centre.
Also, there is funding for a small number of bike hangars to provide secure on-street bike storage in residential areas where there is no other cycle parking provision.
Station Subway
The station subway has been open to cyclists since late summer and provides an attractive and safe route away from heavily trafficked roads around the station.
There are still power cables to the coffee vans on the north side of the station that need to be placed underground as well as signage improvements needed on the southern side of the station including Station Hill and Greyfriars Road.
Station Hill Development
The new link through the Station Hill development opened in mid-February. This is a shared-use space linking Friar Street with the station, which is particularly useful for those travelling to the west of the town centre as it avoids the one-way system around Station Road, Blagrave Street and the eastern end of Friar Street. We have queried the lack of signing on the new route, which is on private land rather than public highway.
A33 Kennet Bridge
There are extensive works on the A33 as part of the South Reading Bus Rapid Transit scheme, which will provide bus lanes between the town centre, Green Park, Select Car Leasing stadium and the Mereoak Park and Ride site. These works include constructing a new shared-use bridge over the river Kennet, which will allow the existing shared-use path alongside the road to be converted to a dedicated bus lane.
Whilst this doesn’t provide any new routes, as it replaces what is there already, RBC is taking the opportunity to provide improved and enhanced facilities as part of this project.
This is an important link in the cycle network south of Reading, as not only does it join various routes from the town centre heading southwards, it also links with National Cycle Network route 4 to Newbury and Bristol and route 23 to Basingstoke and Southampton.
We don’t have details of when the bridge will be opened but we will publicise this as soon as possible.
Roads Resurfacing
RBC has around £8 million to resurface roads across the borough, which started in February. Rather than simply replacing the lining, we have asked the Council to include advanced stop lines for cyclists where roads are being resurfaced at junctions with traffic signals.
Traffic Signals
There has been some discussion about problems with cyclists not being detected at various traffic signals across the town. This can lead to extended waiting time or cycle routes being missed altogether (for example at the Greyfriars Road/Friar Street and Stanshawe Road/Caversham Road junctions).
RBC will investigate these problems, but if there are similar problems at places that affect you, please let us know or report it directly to the Council so that they can rectify the fault.
Future Meetings
The Council’s Cycle Forum and Clean Air and Sustainable Transport forum (CAST) are both public meetings so we would welcome RCC members to come along.
The next CAST meeting is on 1 April, whilst the dates of future meetings have yet to be finalised. We will add details to the RCC website once these meetings are confirmed.
Tony Carr
RBC Campaigner for RCC
