A Little Local Cycling Difficulty

Last month I was critical of the NI Roads Service and their new layout at the junction of Holywood Road and Parkway in Belfast, there being no provision whatsoever for cyclists. For those who may be interested, I did receive a response from the Cycling Officer as follows:-

"Your message was passed to me for attention. I apologise for not
replying sooner; I wanted to see the site and check legislation before
doing so.

The footways on both sides of Holywood Road between Knocknagoney Road
and Parkway were designated in 2004 as shared pedestrian/cycle tracks.
There is no evidence of signing, and I cannot say whether it was
ommitted, or whether it existed, and subsequently disappeared. (More
recently the east footway between Parkway and the more southerly
junction with Circular Road was also converted to joint use, but to date
no signage has been erected).

I am aware of the difficulty for Belfast bound cyclists in crossing the
two lanes which go to Parkway; there is no obvious way to get around
this, other than to use the footway and the crossing. (For those
cyclists who do not wish to do so, there is a short cycle lane on the
immediate approach to the signals for cyclists going straight ahead.
Again, I noticed that there is no signage or road marking to indicate
this).

I trust that this goes some way towards answering your query; if you
have any other comments or suggestions I will be happy to hear from you,
and I will arrange to have appropriate signing put up for the facilities
mentioned above.

Yours ..."

At least I got a courteous reply; it's still shameful that provision wasn't made for dedicated cycle lanes at this new layout, and merely reaffirms my view that cycling is far down the list on the NI Roads Service agenda.