Protected cycle lanes on Dorchester Road (Redlands)

Dorchester Road has existing advisory cycle lanes between the Manor Roundabout and the Wey Valley Academy, but there are concerns that without separation from traffic, these aren't safe enough for younger school pupils to use.

This scheme would see separating wands and bolt-down kerbing installed to give the cycle lanes a greater sense of safety.

Example of a similar scheme implemented on Evening Hill, Poole

Around 50 students cycle to Wey Valley Academy at present; if cycling levels reached the figures common in Cambridge, 350 students would be cycling. Despite the fact that 80% of students live within 5kms of the Academy, over 200 are driven each day, adding to local pollution and congestion at peak hours. Creating a safer link will help create a modal shift of some of these users to bike and achieving the levels seen in Cambridge would increase physical activity, reduce local congestion and save 13 tonnes of CO2 per year.

Support for the proposal has been received from the Academy, which said, "Wey Valley Academy supports these measures to make Dorchester Road safer for those arriving by bike, helping to reduce the number of car trips and improving safety for all.”

These improvements would also provide residents of Redlands, Broadwey and Upwey a safer, direct route to Radipole Lane and the cycle route into Weymouth town centre.

Providing a degree of separation between bicycles and other traffic is crucial to encourage people to cycle more, something the council is keen to support. Surveys have found that 42% of respondents feel that a cycle lane would be acceptable for a 12 year old to use, but if there is intermittent segregation, using wands or kerb units, that rises to 81% .

We are proposing to start work in early 2022 to be completed by the spring. Installation would take around one week, and disruption would be minimal. The scheme is paid for from the Government's Active Travel Fund.

Click on any of the drawings below to see the plans in more detail. If you are visually impaired and need assistance with interpreting the drawings please indicate in your response and a member of the team will be in touch.

Please give us your views on whether this would be of value to you or how it could be improved.