Skip to main content

VIDEO: People see red over white elephant of a blue bike lane

November 1, 2016
The Scottish roads authority has backpedalled on its recently improved cycle lane along a major route on the south-west coast, close to the city of Ayr.

Amid local authority concerns over traffic congestion and one man’s media-grabbing protest, the cycle lane will now be ripped out – after being installed this summer.

As the video shows, it is a protected wide lane, often painted blue. Cars appear to travel freely beside it.

But residents, city folks and local government councillors decided it was %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal one cycle lane too many Visit www.ayradvertiser.com website false http://www.ayradvertiser.com/news/14786829.The_Holmston_Road_cycle_lane_will_be_RIPPED_UP/ false false%>. Consultation with the public has meant the lane will be wiped out, as reported by the local newspaper Ayradvertiser.

On man, a 63-year-old retired engineer, decided %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal to protest Visit www.dailyrecord.co.uk website false http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/watch-ayr-mans-bizarre-rowing-8900855 false false%> by setting up a rowing machine in the middle of the €67,000 bike lane to show it is little used.

Scottish government figures show there are around 3,815km of National Cycle Network routes. Just over 1,000km are traffic-free routes which use a mix of railway path, canal towpath, forest road, shared-use path, segregated cycle lanes and redetermined rural footways. The remainder of the network is on road and, where possible, it incorporates lightly-used rural roads or quiet urban streets.

Related Content

  • The European Union Road Federation (ERF) calls for EU Member States to prioritise road maintenance
    August 12, 2014
    The European Union Road Federation (ERF) has put out an “urgent” call for “EU Member States to prioritise road maintenance” as neglected surfaces continue to deteriorate and the potholes grow larger and larger. ERF wants the EU to “put alternative financing mechanisms into place” as soon as possible, to tackle what it sees as a growing road safety crisis across the region.
  • VIDEO footage shows bridge replacement project in Rhode Island
    October 10, 2014
    A time-lapse video has been released showing the rapid replacement of the Barton Corner Bridge in Rhode Island in the US. Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) partnered with EarthCam to document the US$6.4 million rapid replacement of the Barton Corner Bridge. The construction project was completed during an 11-day period in August 2014 and can be seen in an exclusive time-lapse, released by RIDOT. Had RIDOT had used conventional methods, the bridge replacement would have taken two full constru
  • VIDEO: Life in the deteriorating lane – Pennsylvania Turnpike
    October 17, 2016
    Nothing lasts forever, including – and perhaps especially – highways. One fine example of this is a 21km section of the original 580km Pennsylvania Turnpike in the US state of Pennsylvania.

    As the video shows, vegetation, animals and cyclists have slowly been reclaiming part of what was hailed as an engineering masterpiece when it was opened in 1940.
  • VIDEO: Car owner’s manual – chapter one, snake removal
    October 26, 2016
    Snakes can get into the darnedest places, such as your car. The issue then becomes how to get it out. The answer is, with a lot of work and care as well as an equal amount of patience, such as possessed by the man in this video shot somewhere possibly in Southeast Asia Getting a small snake out of a car is tough. Getting a large one out is practically impossible - at least extracting the reptile in one piece and alive is.