This section lists issues - problems on the street network and related matters.
Issues always relate to some geographical location, whether very local or perhaps city-wide.
You can create a new issue using the button on the right.
Listed issues, most recent first, limited to the area of Cycling Dumfries:
Created by Steve Jefkins // 1 thread
Dangerous road crossing with no central island, and not possible to see fast traffic coming from 3 different roads. Especially dangerous coming from Dalbeattie turning left towards the Garrock and the hospital & trying to get to the cycle path the other side of the road.
Issue added to the map at the 2018 bike breakfast.
Created by Cycling Dumfries // 1 thread
Path never gets sweeper over it unlike other cycle tracks. Horse s**t covers path in parts from Calside farm. No lighting on path makes winter travel ‘challenging’. Path has not yet been adopted by the council – why not? Grass cutting is absolutely horrendous when it is done twice a year, glass clippings all over path and not blown up making pavement very slippy. Too long between cuts, path down to two foot in the middle
Created by John and Rosie // 0 threads
It is not pleasant crossing the roundabout from the Georgetown Road onto the Annan Road to head towards Dumfries High School. Millburn Avenue runs parallel to the Annan Road, and could be used to create a crossing further down the road straight into Noblehill Park and then Greenbrae Loaning. This would need a cycle connection from Georgetown Road, next to the roundabout.
Created by Cycling Dumfries // 1 thread
Crossing the Dalbeattie Road to get onto the cycle path is very unsafe - poor sight lines and fast cars
Created by Rhian // 2 threads
From the Whitesands all the crossings around Nith Place are toucan crossings. However, the current set up doesn't make it comfortable for pedestrians or cyclists for someone cycling to the High Street.
Created by Rhian // 1 thread
These streets are pedestrianised and should allow free movement of people on bikes too.
There is no clear route through the housing here to join the shared use path on Park Road.
This is a 20mph zone. A main cycling route rejoins the road here. A build out would discourage people parking cars on the dropped kerb here, which happens on a daily basis. A protected joining bit similar to that on Newton Road would be great.
This is a 20mph zone. A main walking route crosses the road here. Visibility isn't good particularity when crossing from West to East - a build out would help pedestrians have a better view and discourage people parking cars on the dropped kerbs.
Created by Transport Planning and Engineering // 1 thread
We are Transport Planning and Engineering (TP&E), the social enterprise sustainable transportation consultancy and we are actively working in co-ordination with Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking.
Dumfries and Galloway Council have asked us to run a Community Active Travel Street Audit in Dumfries as part of the Paths for All Smarter Choices, Smarter Places initiative.
- The Council want to help local people to walk and cycle more when travelling in the town centre and connecting with existing active travel routes.
- They would like your help to identify the physical barriers to active travel, and also suggest ways to encourage more people to walk and cycle.
- The aim is to find and prioritise projects that could remove the barriers to active travel.
Would you like to walk or cycle in Dumfries more than you do now? Do you have a child in a pushchair, find walking difficult or use a wheelchair to get around? Would you like to help make the streets of Dumfries more pedestrian and cycle friendly?
We will be holding a Street Audit on Wednesday 5 December, meeting at the Stove at 10.30 am. The Street Audit will focus on the route down the High Street to the river and along to Dock Park. We are also interested in the route from St Michael’s Bridge along St Michael’s Road to the schools and hospital. You can see this in the map below.
Would you like to join us in the Street Audit? We will walk the routes which will give you the opportunity to share your views on the pavements, streets and crossings and what improvements could be made to remove barriers to getting around the area on foot and by bike. The audit will take about 2 hours of your time.
You know your local area. You know the barriers and will have ideas about what could improve it to encourage more people to walk and cycle. We need your ideas!
If you would like to help please let us know by emailing info@tpande.org or calling 0141 229 5448. If you can think of anyone else who might like to be involved, please pass on the details or ask them how we can get in touch and let us know.
Also, if you would like to leave a message please follow the thread link on the right hand side of this web page listed as "Volunteers needed for Community Active Travel Street Audit - Dumfries". If you scroll to the bottom of the thread there is a section to compose a message/post. To undertake this task please ensure you are signed into cyclescape.
Created by Matthew // 1 thread
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inclusive-transport-strategy
Lots of interesting stuff about inclusive transport regarding trains, buses, cars, public realm, streets and yes a bit about cycling too. Quotes:
Shared Space:
8.11 While we consider CIHT and DPTAC’s recommendations and how to take them
forward, we are requesting that local authorities pause any shared space schemes
incorporating a level surface they are considering, and which are at the design stage.
We are also temporarily suspending Local Transport Note 1/11. This pause will allow
us to carry out research and produce updated guidance.
Objectives regarding Cycling:
• Update Local Transport Note 2/08, which sets out the Department’s guidance to
local authorities on designing safe and inclusive infrastructure for cyclists, to take
account of developments in cycling infrastructure since its publication in 2008 and
the responses to the draft AAP consultation and publish a revised version by early
2019;
• By 2020, explore the feasibility of amending legislation to recognise the use of
cycles as a mobility aid71 in order to increase the number of disabled people
cycling.
Created by Mike Comerford // 1 thread
Those of us living in the area marked have no safe access to the cycle network in order to cycle in and out of Dumfries. There are many keen cyclists in this area (as evidenced by the Toirthorwald Cycle Sportive for example).
I live with my family in a cluster of houses close to the A75 (Mouswald Banks) end of Linns Road. There are a number of cyclists at this location and we wish to cycle to Dumfries for work and for social / leisure reasons.
Our Options are:
- the A75 - definitely not safe
- to Torthorwald then along the A709 - narrow, full of heavy trucks, no pavement and very unsafe
- through Torthorwald, across the A709, onwards to Tinwald and then onto the A701 towards Dumfries until able to join the Caledonian Cycleway at Locharbriiggs. This stretch of the A701 is narrow and full of heavy trucks. Where there is a pavement it is too narrow to cycle along it. This is also a long way round to get to Dumfries.
The best solution would be to create a cycle path from Torthorwald along the A709 and through Heathhall woods to connect with the cycle network. This would serve Torthowald, Collin and surrounding hamlets. There is land along the side of the A709 to allow space to make a cycle path.
The shortest in terms of building new infrastructure, would be to make a cycle path along the A701 from the Tinwald road end to Locharbriggs. However space at the roadside along the A701 is very limited, and the route is a long way round for the communities from Torthorwald and Collin.
Building a cycle path along the A75 is an unlikely and unattractive proposition and would cause disruption along a major Trunk road.
Active travel is a priority for the Scottish Government to increase physical activity and reduce traffic emissions. Funding is available through Sustrans.
'Sustrans Scotland's Community Links programme provides funding for the creation of infrastructure that makes it easier for people to walk and cycle for everyday journeys. The programme is funded by Transport Scotland and has funded hundreds of projects across Scotland since 2010.
Through the Scottish Government's Programme for Government 2017-18, the active travel budget has been doubled to £80 million per year, from 2018-19. Community Links will help deliver a key action from this by supporting projects that make our towns and cities friendlier and safer places for people to walk and cycle.'
The three way lights at Troqueer Rd/Pleasance Ave/St Michael's Bridge Rd are very difficult to cross at as there are no pedestrian lights. This is a busy route for people walking in to town from Troqueer via St Michael's Bridge Road or Suspension Brae. A pedestrian phase would be highly beneficial.
Created by Rhian // 1 thread
There's a dropped kerb on the Connolly Court side of this pedestrian cut through but none on the Bradford Gardens side. A dropped kerb would make it easier for people using wheelchais, mobility scooters and pushchairs to get through. It would also allow a shortcut for cyclists missing out the turning from Troqueer road which can be difficult due to parked cars.
Created by Rhian // 1 thread
It's great that this is such a well used path by people walking, cycling and running. There's loads of space to make this path at least twice as wide which would give people walking and people cycling their own paths and avoid conflict. When walking it's annoying when you have to single up to let a cyclist past.
Created by Cycling Dumfries // 1 thread
At the moment there are toucan crossings from the Whitesands up to the High Street past the lower entrance to the Loreburne Centre (where the buses stop) but there is no actual cycle path so you end up illegally on the pavement. It would be a useful route otherwise, as long as cyclists can get past the bus stops (and waiting bus passengers).
Created by Cycling Dumfries // 1 thread
Received via Facebook: "These bumps are aligned alongside parking bays. i.e. 3 abreast. So as a cyclist I would not think on going over the top of these bumps. I would navigate between bump 1 and 2 from my side of the road. What happens in the instance whereby a parked car in that bay (on one of those humps) the car door is opened. This has narrowed down the road for cyclists and motorcyclists and possible cause for accidents or moves them between hump 2 /3 and into oncoming traffic. Move them further up the road away from parking bays. Please re-think these humps or make some that are fully across the road like at Lochside School."
We would add that even when the humps aren't by the parking bays, they encourage drivers to close pass cyclists, who move over to the side of the road and can then get squeezed. Converting these cushions to crossings raised to the level of the pavement would benefit pedestrians - even better if they could be zebra crossings.
Created by Transport Planning and Engineering // 2 threads
We are Transport Planning and Engineering, the social enterprise sustainable transportation consultancy.
Dumfries and Galloway Council have asked us to run a Community Active Travel Street Audit in Castle Douglas as part of the Scottish Government’s Smarter Choices Smarter Places initiative.
The council want to assist the public to do more active travel such as walking and cycling and they would like your help to identify the physical barriers to active travel and suggest measures to encourage it as well.
The aim is to find and prioritise projects that could be undertaken to remove the barriers to active travel across the region.
Transport Planning and Engineering (TP&E) were set up as a social enterprise by Cycling Scotland, the national cycling charity promoting active travel and everyday cycle use, and arranging a Community Active Travel Street Audit is one of the things that we do!
Would you like to walk or cycle in Castle Douglas more than you do now? Do you have a child in a pushchair or use a wheelchair to get around? Would you like to help make the streets of Castle Douglas more pedestrian and cycle friendly?
We are looking for a range of volunteers who can spare 2 to 3 hours to help us with street surveys to record where improvements are needed to the pavement, roads, crossings and street furniture to remove barriers to getting around the area on foot and by bike.
Surveys will take place in late September / early October. There will be a short training session and then the survey which will take a couple of hours and can be arranged for an evening, weekend or during the day to suit your schedule.
The people who use the facilities are best placed to provide insight into the direct and the wider issues affecting active travel in their own area.
If you would like to help please let us know by emailing info@tpande.org or calling 0141 229 5448. If you can think of anyone else who might like to be involved, please pass on the details or ask them how we can get in touch and let us know.
Created by Cycling Dumfries // 1 thread
The paths in Dock Park are very slippery in wet weather, especially around the bandstand. We don't normally complain about tarmac being too smooth but it has a very slick surface and quite a few people have come off their bikes there
A quiet cycle route is signed from Annan Road to Calside. This involves two right turns from Rosevale Street to Eastfield Road and then from Eastfield Road to Westfield Road. This second turn feels precarious as people driving towards town often cut the corner making waiting in then middle dangerous. Because it is a wide road people driving behind also try to undertake, again making waiting in then middle dangerous.
Created by Rhian // 1 thread
There is no way to enter or exit Calside from the south west side. The access points are 480 and 800 metres from the start of the Maidenbower path. This adds a considerable amount of time on to a journeys, especially walking. There are several points where the housing scheme roads in Calside could be linked to Craigs Road.
Created by JohnSch // 1 thread
At certain high usage times for the games area, such as on a Sunday morning, despite there two large car parks adjacent to the High school and a very large amount of on-road parking, the cycle itself becomes a car park. Also cars park across the dropped kerbs and along side the path, meaning that access is almost impossible for bicycles, prams and motobility scooters to squeeze through. Parking on the cycle path also blocks the path for users and also damages the surface.
Also surrounding pavements are blocked making it very difficult for the local community to use them and this causes road safety issues.
The Maindebower path is very dark and is a barrier to people using the route in winter or later at night/early in the morning. Adding lighting along the route would improve it.
Created by Rhian // 1 thread
This is a well used route already but very muddy as there is no surfaced footpath across the playing field. A dropped kerb at the end of Noble Grove and a surfaced path around the football pitches to a dropped kerb on Parkhead Loaning would be a significant improvement. A type 1 and dust path as detailed in the attached link would perhaps be more suitable than a fully tarmacked path. Lighting at the points of entry to the grassed area would be an added benefit as this is currently a very dark route.
This map shows all issues, whether points, routes, or areas:
The most popular issues, based on the number of votes:
Created by Cycling Dumfries // 1 thread
No safe route from Collin to Dumfries town centre - the A75 is a dual carriageway along this stretch of road with no direct alternative route
Created by Cycling Dumfries // 1 thread
Torthorwald is only a couple of miles from Dumfries but very few people are willing to cycle on the Lockerbie Road/ A709. An off-road path running parallel to the road down to Heathhall forest would connect up with the Caledonian Cycleway and provide an accessible route into town.
Created by Transport Planning and Engineering // 1 thread
We are Transport Planning and Engineering (TP&E), the social enterprise sustainable transportation consultancy and we are actively working in co-ordination with Living Streets, the UK charity for everyday walking.
Dumfries and Galloway Council have asked us to run a Community Active Travel Street Audit in Dumfries as part of the Paths for All Smarter Choices, Smarter Places initiative.
- The Council want to help local people to walk and cycle more when travelling in the town centre and connecting with existing active travel routes.
- They would like your help to identify the physical barriers to active travel, and also suggest ways to encourage more people to walk and cycle.
- The aim is to find and prioritise projects that could remove the barriers to active travel.
Would you like to walk or cycle in Dumfries more than you do now? Do you have a child in a pushchair, find walking difficult or use a wheelchair to get around? Would you like to help make the streets of Dumfries more pedestrian and cycle friendly?
We will be holding a Street Audit on Wednesday 5 December, meeting at the Stove at 10.30 am. The Street Audit will focus on the route down the High Street to the river and along to Dock Park. We are also interested in the route from St Michael’s Bridge along St Michael’s Road to the schools and hospital. You can see this in the map below.
Would you like to join us in the Street Audit? We will walk the routes which will give you the opportunity to share your views on the pavements, streets and crossings and what improvements could be made to remove barriers to getting around the area on foot and by bike. The audit will take about 2 hours of your time.
You know your local area. You know the barriers and will have ideas about what could improve it to encourage more people to walk and cycle. We need your ideas!
If you would like to help please let us know by emailing info@tpande.org or calling 0141 229 5448. If you can think of anyone else who might like to be involved, please pass on the details or ask them how we can get in touch and let us know.
Also, if you would like to leave a message please follow the thread link on the right hand side of this web page listed as "Volunteers needed for Community Active Travel Street Audit - Dumfries". If you scroll to the bottom of the thread there is a section to compose a message/post. To undertake this task please ensure you are signed into cyclescape.
Create an off-road route along the railway line out to the east, which could ultimately form a route out to Collin.
Created by Rhian // 1 thread
This is a well used route already but very muddy as there is no surfaced footpath across the playing field. A dropped kerb at the end of Noble Grove and a surfaced path around the football pitches to a dropped kerb on Parkhead Loaning would be a significant improvement. A type 1 and dust path as detailed in the attached link would perhaps be more suitable than a fully tarmacked path. Lighting at the points of entry to the grassed area would be an added benefit as this is currently a very dark route.
Created by JohnSch // 1 thread
At certain high usage times for the games area, such as on a Sunday morning, despite there two large car parks adjacent to the High school and a very large amount of on-road parking, the cycle itself becomes a car park. Also cars park across the dropped kerbs and along side the path, meaning that access is almost impossible for bicycles, prams and motobility scooters to squeeze through. Parking on the cycle path also blocks the path for users and also damages the surface.
Also surrounding pavements are blocked making it very difficult for the local community to use them and this causes road safety issues.
Created by Cycling Dumfries // 1 thread
At the moment there are toucan crossings from the Whitesands up to the High Street past the lower entrance to the Loreburne Centre (where the buses stop) but there is no actual cycle path so you end up illegally on the pavement. It would be a useful route otherwise, as long as cyclists can get past the bus stops (and waiting bus passengers).
Created by Cycling Dumfries // 0 threads
There is now a nice cycle path that takes you from the river away from Devorgilla bridge, but there is no easy way to go from there to the College Street cycle track or Terregles Street as both Market Square and Howgate Street are one-way going the other way. Adding an 'except cycles' sign and allowing contraflow cycling along Market Square (which is not a fast or busy road), combined with a crossing across Buccleuch St on the east side of the street would provide an alternative route through town when the Whitesands is closed (or the Loreburn Bridge). At the moment, to get across Buccleuch street you have to cross in three cycles of the light and there are railings preventing pedestrian and bike access to College Street. This would also benefit pedestrians.
Created by Mike Comerford // 1 thread
Those of us living in the area marked have no safe access to the cycle network in order to cycle in and out of Dumfries. There are many keen cyclists in this area (as evidenced by the Toirthorwald Cycle Sportive for example).
I live with my family in a cluster of houses close to the A75 (Mouswald Banks) end of Linns Road. There are a number of cyclists at this location and we wish to cycle to Dumfries for work and for social / leisure reasons.
Our Options are:
- the A75 - definitely not safe
- to Torthorwald then along the A709 - narrow, full of heavy trucks, no pavement and very unsafe
- through Torthorwald, across the A709, onwards to Tinwald and then onto the A701 towards Dumfries until able to join the Caledonian Cycleway at Locharbriiggs. This stretch of the A701 is narrow and full of heavy trucks. Where there is a pavement it is too narrow to cycle along it. This is also a long way round to get to Dumfries.
The best solution would be to create a cycle path from Torthorwald along the A709 and through Heathhall woods to connect with the cycle network. This would serve Torthowald, Collin and surrounding hamlets. There is land along the side of the A709 to allow space to make a cycle path.
The shortest in terms of building new infrastructure, would be to make a cycle path along the A701 from the Tinwald road end to Locharbriggs. However space at the roadside along the A701 is very limited, and the route is a long way round for the communities from Torthorwald and Collin.
Building a cycle path along the A75 is an unlikely and unattractive proposition and would cause disruption along a major Trunk road.
Active travel is a priority for the Scottish Government to increase physical activity and reduce traffic emissions. Funding is available through Sustrans.
'Sustrans Scotland's Community Links programme provides funding for the creation of infrastructure that makes it easier for people to walk and cycle for everyday journeys. The programme is funded by Transport Scotland and has funded hundreds of projects across Scotland since 2010.
Through the Scottish Government's Programme for Government 2017-18, the active travel budget has been doubled to £80 million per year, from 2018-19. Community Links will help deliver a key action from this by supporting projects that make our towns and cities friendlier and safer places for people to walk and cycle.'
Created by Cycling Dumfries // 1 thread
The Maxwelltown Cycle Path runs along the back of the Cuckoobridge retail park, but there's no easy access from the path into it. At the moment cyclists and pedestrians have to come off the path, cross the Glasgow Road at the lights (which are very slow) and then go into the retail park via the exit from the KFC drive-thru window, which is potentially quite dangerous. It would be quicker and more convenient to have a path from the cyclepath into the car park directly. We note that the new Aldi seems to have a direct entrance being built, which we welcome