Council slammed for excluding cycle lanes in resurfacing

On Friday, the One Trafford partnership, which links the council with contractor Amey for services including bin collection and road maintenance, Tweeted that it had finished resurfacing the portion of Talbot Road south of Gorse Hill Park on Wednesday.

However, pictures posted by residents in reply to the tweet showed only part of the road had been resurfaced. 

Happy Friday!

We started our day by snapping these pictures of these resurfacing works. This work completed on Wednesday and is to the south of Gorse Hill Park on Talbot Road.

Thank you for your patience whilst we undertook the works 👍 pic.twitter.com/9wMfdJgb3n

— One Trafford (@OneTrafford) March 31, 2023

Urmston resident Tom Jeffs responded “this is not a good look” when posting a picture of the road, with the cycle lane left with its old surface.

Tom added: “look at the state of the footway.”

The new surface was only applied to the main carriageway (Image: @DomCycling)

Cycling instructor Richard Alderson said: “This is not finished. Expect cycles not using the cycle lane in the road where it’s nice and smooth.”

Twitter user Gill Moore replied: “Why have you improved the road for motor vehicles but not for bikes? Which form of transport are you trying to encourage?”

Stretford resident Dom Torrisi spoke of his disappointment with the resurfacing.

He said: “It's disappointing that after the recent good work the council has done installing protected cycleways on a section of Chester Road, they’ve carried out this resurfacing work without addressing the cycleway that badly needs improving.

“There’s been issues with poor surface and standing water on the Stretford Cycleway since it was installed. These have been repeatedly raised with the council, who have failed to do anything about it.

“While Trafford Council’s recently approved strategy to get more people walking, wheeling and cycling looks promising, we need to see this backed up with actions, including ensuring that maintenance money is spent fairly.”

Harry Gray, from campaign group Walk Ride GM, said: “When undertaking road resurfacing works, we think it’s fair to both resurface the cycle lane and the main carriageway.

“Leaving the cycle way with potholes is dangerous.

“Both cyclists and drivers pay council tax so we expect the same quality of amenities from our council.”

Trafford Council has been contacted for comment on this piece.