A £14million bid to improve some of the Island’s cycle tracks and create a more sustainable transport network has been launched after approval was given to submit it to the government.
As part of the second round of Levelling Up funding, the Isle of Wight Council has pulled together the multi-million-pound sustainable transport network to complete the ‘Island Green Link’.
The bid – which has now received the council’s cabinet seal of approval – is made up of 3 parts: the Ryde to Yarmouth public transport corridor, the West Wight Greenway and the Newport hub and spokes scheme.
As part of the transport corridor, work on the bus infrastructure is proposed as well as the idea to improve the walkway over the railway line in Ryde to increase accessibility for Hovertravel customers.
The West Wight Greenway is a piece of longstanding work the council has been trying to achieve for 10 years with Councillor Jones-Evans telling the cabinet on Monday night that the links would be important community corridors and enhance the Island’s cycling reputation with safer, alternative routes away from the main roads.
The Island was successful in receiving £5.8million in the first round of funding last year for the East Cowes Marina Hub project, which is already underway.
As the authority was successful the first time, it is only able to bid for transport-related schemes with up to £14million available.
Islanders who travel on any section of route between Ryde and Yarmouth are being asked to complete a survey as part of the bid ahead of its submission.
You can fill it in here, https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/IslandGreenLink, and answers will be accepted until 24th June.
The bid has to be submitted by 6th July.
Why not repair the roads and pavements first , it will save A&E treating the broken bones! and the council paying the insurance claims! Ps do we still have an intelligent council?
Intelligence has no importance in this age, you have to be seen to be green.
No, what this is really about is the move by the Government to curb as many private cars as they can, so the wealthy can have free roads, more parking and glide past us in climate controlled electric vehicles whilst we wobble about exposed to the elements on some cycle or stupid gimmicky battery scooter.
They just use climate change to achieve this, for IF they told the truth that they are going to take private cars away from as many as they can the plebs would complain, YET if it is done in the guise of protecting your children and wildlife, suckers fall for it.
Oddly those in power will still have huge cars, heated pools, massive centrally heated homes, ‘don’t do as I do, do as I say’ being the mantra.
Yet the brainwashing works.
Well done glad you said that totally true they give this money so they have to spend it ,like Ryde interchange and island roads nothing is done properly and no over sees what has been done more people just get rich .Then say it brings money to the island while the poor just pay for it
I think that’s a separate category in Leveling Up budgeting.
Plus, tear and wear on roads with heavy vehicles is constant – you will never get all car roads into good state at the same time. Unfortunately with vehicles parking on pavements it’s a similar story there. You can’t wait for those to be fixed everywhere because it would stop you from working on shared walk/cycle paths forever. It’s just a nature of heavy vehicle traffic.
In comparison shared path of only walking and cycling like RTS from Cowes to Newport requires barely any repairs, and commuting through physical activity (walk, cycle) reduces demand on healthcare services long-term.
Intelligent ha come on
Theres a strip of road on the way to ventnor from shanklin about 50 ft long out side smugglers cafe the got missed but before and after got done
Intelligence needs brain cells
The way the building is going on the island the Council will have to allow access for cyclists through people’s back gardens !!!! Right of way !!!!
The header picture says all you need to know about cyclists and cycle tracks.
Yeah. If there’s no cycling track only those feeling physically capable to cycle in high-speed traffic will do it, and it will be those doing it for sport mostly. But if you build a safe, separated path like Red Squirrel Trail, you’ll get children and elderly folks cycling as well.
Thanks for your thoughtful comments Kidders, there is too much hysterical and illogical lashing out whenever the subject of cycling is brought up.
The vast majority of cyclists are law abiding and reasonable people.
Sorry but alot of cyclists are ignorant (not all)as soon as they get on there bikes they become selfish. alot of the roads on the island could have been made wider when they resurfaced them but no just waist more money which we haven’t got so we have to work harder pay more tax to keep us in the poor state were in now
Yes, it is selfish and inconsiderate cyclists like that who deserve to end up in a ditch. Forcing drivers who allow appropriate space when passing into the opposite carriageway.
do horses and codgers doing 20 mph deserve to end up in a ditch too?
If they are two abreast, yes.
If you are afraid of your skills regarding overtaking vehicles, bikes, pedestrians or other road obstacles, you might have a need to redo your training.
And you might like to take another look at the picture. Two abreast on a narrow road. Idiots – were you one of them?
As long as they stay in one lane it’s perfectly fine. Same as overtaking a parked garbage lorry. It adds more visibility and forces drivers do to a proper overtake rather than skim close to them. Again, if you have problems with overtaking then it’s either due to cars being parked on the road (in addition to those in traffic, effectively creating 2.5-3 lanes on 2-lane road), or you need more training.
Oh, and don’t forget to push cars parking on the streets into a ditch too. They too force you into the opposite carriageway!
It’s good to see drivers are so anti-street parking though 😉
I know there is a cycle track from Cowes to Newport, but some people , me included, sometimes have to cycle back up to Cowes on the main road. There is a rarely used pavement all the way, surely this could be shared with pedestrians. I also expect there are quite a few other pavements that could be utilised. I do use them giving consideration to pedestrians, but at the moment I could be fined. I cycle in quite a few counties and towns on the mainland we are years behind them with shared pavements.
Cyclist on pavements not good idea very dangerous potentially, e scooter another no no on pavements too .
e scooters and cyclist should pay to use roads have insurance etc etc .
what would happen if a scooter of cyclist severely injured someone maimed then for life who’s going to pay .prob no one
Same that happens when pedestrian (say, jogger) bumps into a pedestrian: civil case can be brought against them. And they will have to pay from their pocket then. Unless you think pedestrians should be required insurance to walk as well because they may happen to run for a bus at one point in their life?
All statistics from countries like Netherlands show that injuries between cycling and pedestrians are negligible compared to long-term health benefits of a society that’s encouraged to ride a bike or walk instead of drive. Adding insurances only discourages that. Same reason why Netherlands doesn’t mandate helmets: injuries on bike (when you build good infrastructure like separated cycle
lanes) bring less value than easier biking without having to worry about having a helmet with you all the time. Maths of cost vs benefits on a societal scale.
What is the point in cycle tracks, most of the lycra louts will not even use them, they just love to spread out across the road and block other road users, and don’t even have the decency to pull over and let people pass. Not unless the cycle paths are about 2 metres wide of course. Rubbish idea, just fix the shoddy pavements and pothole infused roads.
2m wide is actually a recommendation in UK code, with 1.5m being an absolute minimum at more tricky points 😉
TA 91/05, DMRB vol 5 sec 2, Department of Transport
They’re not cycle tracks that’s the point. The Island doesn’t have dedicated cycle tracks, if they did all cyclists would use them. The Island only has shared paths, which the lycras don’t use because can’t ride at speed and surface is often not suitable.
Unless the new West Wight Greenway has a dedicated cycle lane it won’t be used by lycras.
Not much point as the Lycra helmet hero’s won’t use them, they prefer to annoy motorists while racing around on there childrens toys!!
Not all cyclists are so-called “Lycra lads” training for sport.
Spend a weekend on Red Squirrel Trail and you will see plenty of people: young and old, children and gramps, some in comfortable clothes (the evil Lycra) and some in casual attire with sun hats.
This is for them – so they can commute and travel safely by bike without having to become a yet another “Lycra lad” on the road.
I’m all in favour of this if it means taking the cyclists off the roads and cars are able to move freely. No more tailbacks and everyone will be able travel safely.
Just plan more time into your journey – read the new Highway Code re: pedestrians and cyclists having the right of way on the roads. Much better to ban horses from the tarmac & put them back onto grass, where they belong.
Cyclists will use dedicated tracks if they were available, as it’s much safer than being on the roads with a lot of the incompetent drivers we have over here, we also don’t live in the 1800’s anymore so keep horses in the fields and bridle ways and off the roads, most are a bunch of militants anyway who see it as a right, not as if any of them ride to work or the shops
Absolutely agree, £14m, £28m or £56m I don’t care just get these menaces off the roads.
What a waste of money the cyclists never use them
Cyclists never use them because they are unusable.
This is a great idea. I feel sorry for both cyclists and motorists during the summer months. We seem to promote the Island as a great place to bring your bikes over when visiting, but the reality there are very few cycle ways and most of the time motorists are stuck behind a dozen or so cyclists on a country lane or a main road, with the temptation to overtake creating a dangerous environment. There are so many hedgerows next to main roads that surely could be cut into and a cycling path created? Much safer for cyclists and less road congestion. Both car drivers and cyclists deserve a better outcome. Long overdue!
The destruction of nature to appease the lycra louts in their sanctimonious green crusade? an utterly vile notion.
I agree.
And building roads for cars is even more destructive and utterly vile then I guess, not to mention the machines themselves.
I think we could always just turn all existing roads into shared walking/cycling/bus/disability/goods roads and ban all other private cars.
A quite revolutionary idea but I’m all with you on that one “Old school” – lets ban the most destructive to nature mode of transport (average of 1.5 people on 2000-3000kg steel encasement).
They need to fix the existing cycle tracks first. The Newport to Sandown one is pretty much unusable for road bikes and sections of it are only suitable for full mountain bikes (the bit behind Blackwater garage is a muddy swamp in the winter).
If the mouth breathers want cyclists off the roads, they need usable routes, not rutted, pot-holed, muddy and overgrown gravel paths.
I prefer to cycle on the road so any improvement on the road infrastructure will be excellent news.
hmm, a perfectly reasonable comment and it gets negative responses!… says a lot.
Once cycle tracks are provided, it should be made illegal for cyclists to use the highway where it runs adjacent to a cycle path.
It seems common practice to publicise how much it costs the economy when hold ups occur on roads, such as accidents, but there never seems to be anything about the vast cost of the accumulated delays caused to motorists due to being unable to safely overtake slow moving cyclists.
You think car industry with all their money wouldn’t fund such research if they were able to find any evidence?
i agree as long as it is illegal for pedestrians to use them
How are the cyclists who use these routes going to make a financial contribution, after all I have to pay to keep my car on the road?
same way pedestrians pay for pavements
All cyclists should be banned from all roads.
If they spent the money on cheap public transport it would sort all of this out people wouldn’t have use there cars bring back trains on the cycle paths and you wouldn’t need a car no more free pass on the bus either it’s simple really it’s the only way there’s just too many cars
How about some decent rural bus routes back before focusing on a group of people who can already access our roads????
£14 million for a few hundred cyclist,yet 10s thousands of motorists and road’s are unsafe and dangerous with poor conditions,unsafe layouts and traffic lights that turn green for traffic when pedestrians are in the middle, motorists pay more taxes than cyclist – Fuel VAT, Insurance Tax,road tax, parking charges,VAT on garage repairs MOT etc yet are getting a poor deal.
I’m happy for you to stop using fuel and start using your muscles. That’s why I use a 15kg bike. It’s your choice.
Insurance is required for cars because a 2000kg at 50-100mph can cause considerable damage. It’s your choice to operate a vehicle capable of that.
There’s no road tax. There’s VED. You can pay £0 just like cyclists if you get a zero-emission vehicle, like an electric car.
1 parking space for car is about 8-10 spaces for bikes. If Newport had used same area for cars as for bikes, you’d have maybe 4 car spaces in whole town. For rest you have to pay. Public subsidies cannot subsidise one group.
Repairing bikes costs VAT.