A councillor in Leicester has sent an email to the council full to the brim with complaints and objections to a plan for the creation of a "safe and attractive" cycling route on a busy road in the city.
The proposal would see the temporary wands on Aylestone Road, the BBC calling the route one of Leicester's main roads, replaced by full segregation with concrete kerbing and extra signs and lights as the Labour-run city council hopes to build on the success of the temporary scheme, which has "seen a significant reduction in collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists".
However, not everyone is convinced, Liberal Democrat local ward councillor Nigel Porter sending an email to the council to protest the plan, claiming it will be a "trip hazard" and is already a "nuisance".
"[The concrete kerb] would seriously restrict the width of the carriageway and present a number of physical obstacles in the road," he said. "Putting concrete blocks in the road is just replacing one trip hazard with another.
"Pedestrians should be able to cross the road safely without tripping over concrete blocks or the bases of the upright poles in the cycle lanes. Local residents have said that the cycle lanes on Aylestone Road have made the road less safe and they are also a nuisance."
The council refutes the objection based on safety, pointing out the "significant reduction" in collisions involving pedestrians and cyclists since the introduction of the temporary measures. It also points out it has sent letters to residents and businesses ahead of the works to "actively" engage with a "small number of people who have responded".
"Making permanent routes like the existing pop-up cycle lane on Aylestone Road is another important expansion of the city's growing network of safe and attractive routes for walkers, wheelers and cyclists connecting with Leicester's busy local neighbourhoods," a spokesperson said.
Work is due to begin on the lane next week, from before the junction with Richmond Avenue to beyond the Euro Garages County Service Section, and will see segregation introduced on both sides of the road. It is expected to take five weeks, with temporary lane restrictions and "short-term road closures" between 24 September and 8 October.
In 2019, Greenwich Council removed a semi-segregated cycle lane due to it being a trip hazard for pedestrians, while in April, MP Jacob Rees-Mogg criticised a Somerset bike lane after a Freedom of Information request found that 59 people had been injured due to Keynsham High Street's "optical illusion" bike lane.
In that case it was not just pedestrians raising concerns, with a local cyclist saying they feared somebody would suffer a fatal injury if no improvements were made. The different colouring and heights used on the road and kerb were creating "some kind of optical illusion", one local explained.