The £1.4m redesign of Bristol Bridge has been opened to the public – but has split opinion online.
The bridge has a new two-way segregated cycle lane as well as a new parallel crossing for pedestrian and cyclists linking Baldwin Street to Castle Park.
Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, posted on X to celebrate the occasion and claimed the council will “continue investing to improve our city’s walking and cycling infrastructure.
🎉 Amazing to see our £1.4 million active travel work complete on #Bristol Bridge, @BristolDon
— Marvin Rees (@MarvinJRees) December 7, 2023
🚲 Two-way segregated cycle way
🚶 Parallel crossing and zebra crossings
📈 We'll continue investing to improve our city's walking and cycling infrastructure: https://t.co/NLsooLYL3x pic.twitter.com/NyZtxiCwVk
Bristol24-7 editor Martin Booth posted about the “excellent” new development, adding it is “exactly the sort of safe infrastructure that our city desperately needs”.
The excellent new segregated cycle lane across Bristol Bridge is now open and it’s exactly the sort of safe cycling infrastructure that our city desperately needs. Let’s hope it can soon continue along Victoria Street towards Temple Meads. pic.twitter.com/3wWkmAo0R0
— Martin Booth (@beardedjourno) December 8, 2023
Bristol residents are not all in favour of the new layout, with some calling the new crossing “dangerous”.
One X user, Lauren Williams, questioned the accessibility issues of the redesign.
“How are visually impaired people going to know if they can cross without being hit by a cyclist?” she asked.
How are visually impaired people going to know if they can cross without being hit by a cyclist? @PocklingtonHub
— Lauren Williams (@Eleanorbirdy) December 8, 2023
Another user reprimanded the cost of the development, insisting that “we need more safe lanes in Bristol, but that sort of money is insane!”.
There will still be work going on into the new year as confirmed by Bristol City Council to fix the remaining pavement and road surfacing.
Amazing how you manage to show how good cycle infrastructure can be and how bad it can be at the same time, all in very short clip!
— Benjamin Nathan (@foxbenbath) December 8, 2023
