Andy Chivers writes for Cyclox on how cyclists are often confronted with barriers.

There many barriers to cycling - lack of segregated paths, feeling unsafe, lack of access to bikes, lack of a safe place to store a bike. The list can go on.

But this article is about the very physical barriers along cycle paths designed to do exactly what is says on the tin - provide a barrier against something. And what is the main aim of these physical barriers?

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The commonest reason given is to prevent unauthorised vehicles from getting onto the cycle path – principally cars, mopeds and motorbikes.

You will usually find barriers where a cycle route meets another path or a road, often with the added purpose of slowing cycle riders down for their own or others’ safety.

Oxford showcases a huge variety of barriers as the pictures show. Most barriers are designed to let ordinary two wheeled bikes go through, so the one at off Girdlestone Road into the Churchill Hospital grounds wins the prize as it is even difficult for a regular two-wheeler to get through. The chicane barriers (two or three gates creating a zigzag route through them) are particularly problematic for trailers or cargo bikes, and they are totally no go for mobility scooters. And we are still seeing barriers being installed inappropriately – the latest example is the put in on the newly-built slip path from the A44 down to the canal just south of Yarnton.

Another example of barriers which do more harm than good are those at staggered crossings on dual carriageways, designed with the aim of keeping walkers and wheelers safe from motor traffic but creating conflict as people pass each other in a small awkward space.

Oxford Mail:

Many of these barriers stop people with trailers, cargo bikes, tagalongs, three-wheelers, hand-propelled bikes or wheelchairs accessing cycle paths. Barriers are stopping legitimate users accessing cycle paths.

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What is more they also seem unable to stop those vehicles that they are meant to be stopping – it is commonplace to see mopeds and motorbikes and illegal doctored e-bikes (a modern scourge) whizzing through barriers.

The Department for Transport published the definitive guidance on cycle infrastructure in 2020 – the Cycle Infrastructure Design. This sets out the standards we should all expect for cycling infrastructure and is now the modern reference document. It states that where barriers disadvantage people with disabilities, efforts should be made to remove them or provide an acceptable alternative route. Chicane barriers are singled out for especial criticism specifically because they impede non-standard bikes. The guidance is clear that many of these different designs of barriers should not be used unless unavoidable.

For existing routes, the guidance recommends that barriers should be removed whenever possible, and it states that new schemes should ideally not have any barriers. Instead, clear separation between pedestrians and cyclists should be the aim.

It goes further, stating that barriers should only be used to prevent motorbike riders if intermittent police presence doesn’t work. Slowing cyclists down should be achieved the same way cars are – rumble strips or speed humps, but again proportionately and “used sparingly”. Safety for cyclists and walkers at junctions with the cycle path should be achieved by ensuring good sight lines so that traffic is visible in plenty of time.

Sustrans recently commissioned some research which was reported last month which found an experimental removal of barriers made the routes more accessible and busier.

More people means more ‘eyes on the street’ which makes paths safer and deters motor cycles accessing the route illegally.

Cyclox and other cycling and walking groups will be working with Oxfordshire County Council on a barriers policy with the aim of removing the ones that prevent people on non-standard bikes. One step on the way to removing barriers to cycling.

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About the author 

Andy is the Trade and Tourism reporter for the Oxford Mail and you can sign up to his newsletters for free here. 

He joined the team more than 20 years ago and he covers community news across Oxfordshire.

His Trade and Tourism newsletter is released every Saturday morning. 

You can also read his weekly Traffic and Transport newsletter.