The problem we had, as I am sure you will appreciate, was that the speed humps were presenting a serious danger to cyclists, especially at night. The only warning was two signs which were unlit and often vandalised. At night it was perfectly possible to ride straight over the humps without seeing them, with a fair chance of bringing the cyclist down.

I can certainly appreciate that, but frankly I regard the bollards as a greater hazard. Surely a better solution would have been improved illumination? You mentioned that you hope to install illumination at the site anyway.

We chose a solution which has been used sucessfully elsewhere of bollards placed at about 45 degrees with a gap of 1200mm. We used 3 bollards to create a pair of such gaps.

By my calculations, that gives an effective gap of about 850mm for going straight through. This is the approximate width of many trikes and trailers - a poster to uk.rec.cycling recently stated that his trike has a track of 850mm. I have investigated child trailers and found that the typical track is about 820mm. Going through the bollards at an angle is not a realistic option within the confines of the cyclepath.

The gap may be narrowed by overhanging vegetation in the spring and summer.

We decided to try using red solar powered lamps mounted on the centre bollards to warn approaching cyclists. I think this worked very well - for about 24 hours.

It was a good idea. Shame they were vandalised.

We now have a situation which, although not perfect, is in my view somewhat better for cyclists without putting pedestrians at risk.

I disagree. I am still very concerned that cyclists will be concentrating on negotiating the bollards rather than looking ahead for pedestrians - I've seen people doing it, and I've caught myself doing it a couple of times.

Cyclists have no humps to go over and the bollards are far more visible than the humps were, even without lights.

That's true, and bollards alone are much better than the situation we had for 2 weeks with both bollards and humps. The humps were certainly not an ideal solution, but I firmly believe that the bollards are worse. This sentiment has been echoed by other cyclists who I have spoken to on the cyclepath.

The bollards would probably be a good solution if the cyclepath was slightly wider and the bollards could be spaced further apart.

please let me have any other concerns you may have.

OK, you asked for it ;-)

There's a couple of issues elsewhere on the cyclepath.

Firstly, I attended a public consultation last winter regarding proposed traffic calming measures on Victoria Road. It seems that the proposed measure of installing a toucan crossing where the cyclepath crosses the road is now being effected.

The contractors have dug a trench along the road directly in front of the cyclepath access point. A fence has been erected around the trench. This is all fair enough, I'm sure the trench had to be dug, and once dug it had to be fenced off. However, the fenced area is 3 times the length of the trench (a gap has been left in the fence at one end of the trench, but I don't think this was intentional).

It would have been helpful if the contractors had left a specific and clearly marked gap for cyclists to pass through when crossing the road.

Secondly, there is the long term issue of barriers at cyclepath access points. Although I object to the bollards at Meadow Court Drive, I should be ecstatic if all motorcycle barriers were replaced by similar bollards (although perhaps spaced slightly further apart).

Sustrans now recommends replacing barriers which restrict legitimate cyclepath users - www.sustrans.org/downloads/9896D3_ff09.pdf

On an unladen mountain bike, I've never found these barriers to be a problem. However, I (in common with many others) have always had difficulty passing through them when carrying panniers or towing a trailer. They have also slowed my commute since I started riding a recumbent. To quote the above mentioned Sustrans policy document:
"It is important, wherever possible, to open all the controls on any section of path so that a recumbent cyclist, for instance, does not get part way along and find their way barred..."

So, I'd be interested to know if there are any long term plans to remove these barriers.

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Danny Colyer