Wonderful infrastructure

In Plymouth there is a disused railway track that has been converted to a footpath/cycle path. It starts just off the Morrison’s roundabout and heads towards Radford lake. It actually used to end close to Mountbatten, but sadly a bridge was removed a long time ago.
The rough yellow line in the following image shows the route of the path, the yellow circle shows where the old bridge used to be and the red circle shows where the roundabout is.

We’re very fortunate that such paths exist at all, plus of course Plymouth is set in a beautiful environment.

However…

apparently the powers that be have some sort of obsession with placing obstructions where there is no need whatsoever. The pictures below were taken at the start of this cycle path, right by the roundabout.

Such barriers are typically excused by the need to keep motorcyclists off the path. Except with absolutely nothing either side of the barriers clearly that argument doesn’t hold water here! As you can see, the only impact these have had is to ensure the grass next to it is trampled out of existence.

A few meters away there is another one:

Don’t be fooled by the concrete fence posts – there is no fence to the left.

Sometimes I just feel so despondent as it seems there simply is no getting through to some people!

2 thoughts on “Wonderful infrastructure”

  1. In Palo Alto, California, over the 101 Freeway, there is (was?) a "pedestrian bridge" that can also be used by cyclists. The builders-of-bridges and makers-of-rules decreed that cyclists should walk, and to force this, they installed a dismount gate. But it was not a very good dismount gate.

    A cyclist of moderate skill on a normal bike (i.e., me) could negotiate the gate on the bicycle without dismounting; however, an abnormal bicycle, such as one towing a child in a trailer, could not be moved through the gate at all, in any way; anyone on such a bike, was forced to take their bike, trailer, and child over the automobile overpass instead.

    I thought of thermite every time I rode past this idiotic device.

    Reply
  2. I must confess that thermite has crossed my mind too! If only we could!
    Yet even better: if only those that make the decisions would see some sense, then we'd never have these stupid obstacles to begin with!

    Reply

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