On the 16th November the Environmental Transport & Sustainability Committee met to discuss various items relating to Transport within the City. The Making the A259 Temporary Cycle Lane Phase 1 legally permanent was on the agenda.
In the meeting the future of the lane was discussed, with all parties supporting a future report on permanent cycleway infrastructure, there is no date on when this would be delivered or consulted upon.
There was some confusion at the meeting at what the making the ERTO permanent & looking at future permanent schemes meant. Two councillors out of Six did vote to not have the ERTO made permanent, likely because it doesn’t guarantee that a better permanent will have to replace the temporary one.
The Pier Roundabout was also bought up in discussion, whereby the chair mentioned that it will become a CYCLOPS junction. This is the first time the junction has been referred to as a CYCLOPS, and it is unclear whether this is a councillor incorrectly using the term, or if the plans have changed here from the last public detailed designs as a result of the seafront cycle lane changes & proposed Marine Parade cycle lanes (ATF3).
Phase 2 of the seafront cycle lane was also mentioned, which is proposed to be a temporary extension of the current temporary scheme which would see east and westbound cyclists taking different routes and changes to the one-way systems and junction along the seafront. It was said that this would be going back to consultation in the next few weeks, likely before going back to ETS in March 2022.
