Whitburn Cycle Route with South Tyneside Council
LOCAL AUTHORITIES Whitburn Cycle Route with South Tyneside Council
We recently had the pleasure of working with South Tyneside Council on the implementation of this excellent cycle lane scheme, linking the coastal path between Sea Lane, Whitburn, and Sunderland.
The One Piece WandOrca offers safe segregation for cyclists wishing to travel along the coast and with a compact design of just one metre long, it is an ideal solution for minimal space or quick and easy installation of temporary or permanent cycle lanes.
Scheme Information from South Tyneside Council
Sea Lane was a 2-way carriageway with pedestrian footways present on each side of the road. Route 1 of the National Cycle Network (NCN) traverses A183 and Sea Lane prior to be directed to the off-road costal path to Whitburn.
In line with national guidance we identified Sea Lane as a location that would benefit from a road space reallocation scheme. The purpose of the scheme is to connect the existing cycling provision in Sunderland’s borough with the coastal path to Whitburn. The scheme, designed in line with the Department for Transport’s guidance, would look to reallocate the highway space to provide a 2-way on road segregated cycle lane.
South Tyneside Council undertook a comprehensive consultation with the public during the spring of 2020 to capture the views and location of sites that were deemed unsuitable for active travel. Over 1500 contributions were received over six weeks. Sea Lane and the coastline were identified as an area where many people felt current provision could be widened to accommodate pedestrians and cycles. Now through the implementation of the one-way system for motorists, we have allocated a section of the carriageway on Sea Lane for cyclists, allowing them to be safely segregated from motorists and pedestrians through the use of the wand orca’s and one-way restriction for motorists.
In order to implement the cycle provision, it was necessary to install a one-way restriction for motorists in a northbound direction, from Sea Lane’s southern junction with the A183 to its junction with Whitburn Bents car park.
The section identified in blue within the aerial photograph below is the existing segregated shared use provision located within Sunderland City Council’s borough. The red line indicates the line of the shared use costal path within South Tyneside and the yellow line indicates the extents of the route where cyclists had to travel on the carriageway without segregation.
