Work starts on radial routes signing project

Work has started on a new Cycling City project to improve the visibility of eight arterial cycle routes in the city.

These routes stretch from the city centre to destinations on the fringes of the city and will now include directional signs to local destinations and surface markings (symbols on the ground).

The ambition is to create a simple and clear network of radial routes that are direct and intuitive and build upon users’ existing mental maps of their city.

In Bristol the arterial routes and the feeder routes which serve them total 115km in length. The signed network will cover 71.5% of the area of the city based upon 1km either side of the radial routes.

The first of these routes to be signed is Malago Greenway, which runs from Lynton Road in Knowle/Bedminster (near Parson St train station) on a traffic-free path, past Bedminster train station, to the edge of Windmill Hill park - at the junction with Hill Avenue and St Luke's Road, close to the River Avon in the city centre.

One hundred and twenty signs have been added on and around Malago Greenway to direct residents to their destination.

Claire Lowman from Knowle, regularly cycles on the city's cycle paths. Claire said "I successfully navigated my way from home [to the city centre] on Malago Greenway using the new signs and I love the cycle symbols on the road, it makes you feel like you belong there."

A further seven routes will be signed over the next six months and work will start on another two routes imminently. These are:

• Festival Way - from the city centre to Ashton Vale and North Somerset.
• Whitchurch Railway Path - from the city centre to Whitchurch, near the A37, Wells Road.

The other routes to be signed later in 2010/11 include:

• Frome Greenway - heading north east from the city centre through Eastville Park towards Hermitage Wood and the University of the West of England.
• The North Bristol Route - from St Werburghs, past Ashley Down and across Muller Road into Lockleaze, leading cyclists and pedestrians to Bristol Parkway train station.
• NCN Route 4 - taking in low-traffic streets parallel to Whiteladies Road, across the Downs and in to Stoke Bishop and Westbury on Trym and Henbury, eventually connecting with the Pill path. (NCN Route 4 is part of a long distance route between London and Fishguard in West Wales.)
• Southmead Hospital - from either Bristol city centre or Bristol Parkway train station, taking in cycle paths or low-traffic streets to Southmead Hospital.
• Kingswood - residential signage to highlight key destinations that can be reached quickly by bike.

This project is one of a number of Cycling City infrastructure projects to get more people out on their bikes, either on cycle paths or riding safely on many of the city's low-traffic streets.

Almost 1000 new signs and road markings will appear over the next six months in a project which is set to cost approximately £245,000.

Below you will find Bristol City Council's route signage strategy and a draft PDF map of proposed routes. Please note, the route map was produced in June 2010; some routes may have changed slightly since this date.

Downloads: 

Cycle signage route map (1.97mb)