So it was a bit overcast but miraculously it was DRY this
morning when I set out for a leisurely spin around and about by bike. There was
no plan, no route, no miles target set, just a sociable ride around the
southside of Glasgow. What transpired was a really interesting morning out
which was at once pleasing (being on my bike) and yet rather depressing
although probably not entirely for the reasons a reader may expect of me.
Heading down Pollokshaws Road towards town I decided to cut
off at Strathbungo at Nithsdale Road and headed down through Pollokshields, a
route I’ve travelled many times over the last few years I’ve been bike
commuting. Today though was different in the sense that I wasn’t heading for
work so I just took it easy and enjoyed the experience, unlike a commute where
even on these quiet back streets and side roads you still need to be vigilant
for motorised traffic. Being Sunday there was very little in the way of traffic
and for the first time I really paid attention to the sheer width of the
streets through which I was passing. There is a lot of talk about “Dutch-style”
bicycle infrastructure and how it could be implemented here but “issues” like
space for lanes and parking prevent it happening. Yet look at this road, this
is the west end of Maxwell Drive; when I looked at the amount of space I
figured that surely this is an absolute no-brainer for a segregated bike route.
There is ample room for a lane of traffic in each direction,
a lane of parking and bi-directional bike lanes. The road was recently
re-surfaced – not before time I might add – and is sitting there like a blank
canvas waiting to be worked on.
Unfortunately I suspect the road will be
treated as exactly that by the city council, with applications of paints no
doubt in the pipeline. The road previously had “cycle lanes” painted on with
green paint that had been worn away and the “path” itself rutted and pot-holed,
presumably not by the volume or weight of bikes going over it.
After navigating the mess that is Govan Road/ Pacific Drive
caused by the Fastlink project, I decided to check out the path
along the Clyde walkway heading into the city centre. There is a lot of work
ongoing in this area and it’s still not clear to me if there will be a
permeable cycle route from the Clyde Arc bridge into town. At the moment there
is a path that is shared use, which afforded me an easy run under the Kingston
Bridge straight into town right up to the point behind the casino where you
either dismount and carry your bike up stairs or push up the narrow path with
its 90 degree turns that are a pain in the backside to navigate.
It did occur to me to cross the new(ish) Millenium
footbridge to search for permeability there. I needn’t have bothered. Traffic
flows in three hostile lanes heading into the city centre and the one side
street escape route is blocked by what looks like fairly long term road works
Yes, it is completely empty on Sunday morning, but imagine
how it looks at 8:30 on a weekday morning. Now looking towards city centre, it
looks promising but at the very and there is no choice but to join the main
carriageway into town or straight ahead to turn into the A77 going out of town.
Big wide paths like this a great for cycling on, but getting
onto it coming from the south is a nightmare in the morning, requiring nerves
of steel. I’ve done it once and decided never to repeat the experience. There
may be a light at the end of this particular tunnel though. Lurking in the list
of projects on the Glasgow City Council website is a drawing of a proposed
segregated cycle route that makes up the Tradeston route from Shields Road in
Pollokshields all the way through to the Millenium footbridge. To me this
another no-brainer, but it’s more than just a bike route, this would be a great
opportunity to improve cyclist/ motorist relations by demonstrating how easy it
would be for all these road users to get on given the right infrastructure.
We’ve got a long, long way to go to make
up the 41 years of non-investment in non-motorised transport that is the
differential between the UK and the Netherlands.
