A View from the Handlebars: Foredyke Route

On the same day we went for a ride round Bransholme, we used the Foredyke Route to get there and back from the Avenues / city centre area. As mentioned in a previous post, we were pretty excited about the ‘Quick Wins’ plan for the route - it would finally realise its potential as the key north-south route east of the river, and tie East and West Hull together - so wanted to check out it’s current state. While it’s great to be able to get about almost traffic free, time (and neglect) have taken their toll…and then there’s the barriers (see below, what were they thinking?).

We also mentioned in the same post how we’d had some promising engagement with Hull CC over maximising the impact / value of the plans for the route by contributing to the detailed design for the scheme. Unfortunately, there was some bad news from the Council’s Infrastructure and Energy Overview and Scrutiny Commission (info and documents here) this week - any current funding will only focus on on-road routes. Therefore, the improvements to the Foredyke Route are on hold indefinitely.

As stated in our Key Principles, the separation of busy active travel routes from busy motor vehicle routes is key to maximising the safety and convenience of active travel. For this reason, the current fixation with on-road routes is misguided, and not all of it can be blamed on central government funding allocation; the outsized benefits that a quality Foredyke Route would convey represent value for money the Council should not ignore.