Cycle Route from Worthing centre to Goring Mulberry

Another Twist in the Cycle Lanes
We now hear that the gas company will be digging a trench in Goring Road this year, and that the whole road will be resurfaced by the council next year. Tell me, why did they have to paint the cycle lanes now when they will be destroyed so soon?
(Worthing Herald 17 August 00)

Some people are in favour
The Worthing Guardian has two letters this week that say that the anti's are complaining too much. While car drivers give so little consideration to cyclists something must be done, and the cycle lanes are a good start.

Don't block Worthing's new cycle lanes
Apparently the new red-painted cycle lanes are only advisory at the moment. So motorists can park on them except when there are double or single yellow lines as well. So cyclists are not getting a very good deal at the moment, and are all the time forced out into the traffic. At this rate it will be the end of the summer before they have anything sorted out.

Biggest eyesore in town's history
claims N J Watson of Singleton Crescent in the Worthing Herald 20 July.
"What a complete waste of the tax payers money" he says. "It must rank as one of the biggest eyesores in the borough's history with its gaudy paint job, as well as one of the most dangerous. What does the red paint indicate anyway?
What were the planners thinking about when it was conceived? The traffic is now squeezed into less space. I also wonder how many cyclists will actually use it. I ride a bike on occasions and I will not use it.
It would be far better if the route had been planned to follow the side roads. Much quieter, much prettier, and not so many dodgy fumes."

There are four other letters, one in favour with reservations.

extract from the Highway Code
119. Cycle lanes. These are shown by road markings and signs. You MUST NOT drive or park in a cycle lane marked by a solid white line during its times of operation. Do not drive or park in a cycle lane marked by a broken white line unless it is unavoidable. You MUST NOT park in any cycle lane whilst waiting restrictions apply.

Correspondence from the Senior Engineer, Local Transport Planning.

Thank you for your enquiry about the background to this cycle route. The idea of a route was first mooted in 1994 as a result of a County Council study entitled "Worthing Cycle Strategy". More recently there has been a "Worthing Cycle Strategy Review" jointly with Worthing Borough Council. Consultation to follow later in the year. The route also contributes to the objectives of the County Council's cycle policy document "Pedalling Ahead in West Sussex" which has just been updated as a supporting document to the West Sussex Local Transport Plan.

Goring Road is one of the busier routes for cyclists in the town and Shelley Road and Richmond Road are also well used. The route is seen as the first in a network to be built up over time, covering the main corridors of cycle demand.

Worthing has a poor record of accidents to cyclists, in comparison to other types of traffic accidents. These are quite widely spread but the most dangerous locations are busy roads and junctions. The scheme is seen as increasing perceived and actual safety on busy roads that cyclists use and signing along quieter roads where equally convenient.

The phasing is for a number of reasons, but mainly procedural in that the first phase only contains measures that could be progressed straight away once the approval of local Members was received.

The estimated total cost of both phases is just under £80,000

At first, the route will mainly serve existing cyclists, but as more routes, cycle parking and safety improvements are put in across Worthing the "network effect" is expected to result in increasing levels of cycling in future years.

Guy Parfect
Senior Engineer
Local Transport Planning

I enjoy cycling immensely, but mainly as a leisure pursuit out into the countryside not for commuting.

Firstly, I must confess I live in Horsham, therefore I haven't seen the plans for the new cycle route. On the whole I think cycle routes can be a good thing, if properly planned for cyclists, motorists and pedestrians, and I am all of these.

In Horsham unfortunately, we have a very disjointed set cycle routes, with many lanes and non-busy streets having cycle lanes, but which stop abruptly for no reason, spitting you out into the main, and most dangerous roads, with the most "hair raising" of junctions, this doesn't seem to make sense to me. In one particular one-way street the cycle track runs in the opposite direction, but since people do insist on parking on double yellow lines, you can be faced with a standoff between you on a Raleigh and an Iveco 12-wheeler, who would you bet on?

I feel that children are suffering. When I was young, as long as you had completed the cycling proficiency test, you could cycle for miles on end without fear. But now I would be very reluctant to let my children out, although I don't have any, on to the roads in Sussex. Since cycling on the pavement is a criminal offence, children either have to run the gauntlet of the A259 or be chauffeured everywhere, creating more traffic, catch-22.

Perhaps more pavements could have designated cycle routes along them, although I am unsure about the safety issues of this, but some wide pavements could probably accommodate a cycle lane.

I know I may be idealistic, wouldn't it be nice to ride, drive and walk in safety?

Gillian Findlay