Liverpool’s ‘experimental’ pop-up cycle lanes had a varied impact on improving attitudes towards cycling across the city, according to the region’s cycling and walking commissioner Simon O’Brien.
Speaking at the City Region ’s Active Travel Summit earlier this week, when asked by the ECHO whether the temporary nature of the schemes served to further the divide between drivers and cyclists, Mr O’Brien said there was evidence they had a positive impact in some areas.
He told the ECHO: “Some worked and some didn't. They were very experimental. But some have worked fantastically well. For others, the highways engineers have certainly learnt a lot more than anything else.”
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This follows a report by Liverpool City Council published in March which said the city’s pop up cycle lanes had become a ‘maintenance nightmare’. The temporary routes were installed across the city in the summer of 2020 in a bid to encourage more active travel .
The schemes were funded by the Liverpool City Combined Authority and the Department of Transport and aimed to support the process of relaxing travel restrictions following the Covid-19 pandemic. Seven schemes across the city were outlined with the first round of funding going towards pop-up cycle lanes on West Derby Road, Sefton Park and Commercial/Vauxhall Road.
In January the city council received a further £1.9m to go towards three more routes, but the council has now said it is taking a different approach to those installed in the summer of 2020. Rather than comprise of bolted down cylinders that were painted with additional signage, the cost of maintaining the temporary lanes forced a rethink.
Instead, the council said it will now look to “fill in the gaps” between existing infrastructure and schemes. This is partly because the pot of funding was not enough to deliver three more full routes.
Within the original scheme, one issue that arose was on West Derby Road where the implementation of the temporary lane proved controversial among drivers and cyclists. A consultation on a new design was carried out after the scheme was dismantled last year.
Asked whether all future active travel infrastructure must always be permanent and done to the very highest standard or not at all, Mr O’Brien replied: “We have to do things well.
“No more just putting a painted line down and then fading it out as we get towards a junction. If the infrastructure isn't done right, then we won't get the money to do it.”
Chris Boardman, a Wirral-born Olympian and now head of Active Travel England, also spoke at the Region’s active travel summit. When asked by the ECHO if he thought temporary lanes negatively impact the campaign to get more people out of cars and onto bikes, he said temporary infrastructure can held bring about lasting change.
He added: “ I'm a fan of trials as it helps with the fear of change. It's a case of saying, let's try it and if you don't like it we can take it out in a year.
“The key is it has to be somewhere it is going to make a difference. Change is a real challenge, it always is.”
