Skip to content

This is a £16m bridge to nowhere, say cyclists

Louise Brierley
BBC Midlands Today
BBC Three people - a woman wearing a hi-vis and black trousers and yellow cycle helmet, a man wearing an orange jacket, dark blue jeans and a beanie, and a woman wearing a purple coat, pink and grey hi-vis, light blue jeans and pink cycle helmet - stand next to their bikes on the Kepax footbridge, with temporary barriers either side of them.BBC
Bike Worcester said it was short-sighted of the county council not to join up existing safe routes for cyclists

Cyclists wanting to travel on a new £16m walking and cycling bridge into a city centre are left with two choices - join a muddy path or turn back and join what some cyclists claim is a "dangerous" road.

This is because part of the Severn Way path in Worcester, on the Western side of the Kepax Bridge, is a muddy quagmire, impassable even for most people on foot.

The bridge, which crosses the River Severn, was meant to create a figure-of-eight loop to encourage more people to walk and cycle in the city. 

But Worcestershire County Council said upgrading the path at the foot of the bridge was never in the scope of the project because it is not a "defined public right of way".

Bike Worcester argues that spending millions on a bridge and not thinking about the wider infrastructure is short-sighted.

Dan Brothwell, chair of the group, said: "It seems like some of the easier bits around the edges, that are actually really important to make [the bridge] a success, have been overlooked."

A woman wearing a yellow high-vis yellow helmet and black trousers, stands holding her bike behind her, with one hand on the handlebars and one hand on her hip. Behind her is a wall with colourful graffiti and the River Severn.
Daisy Wallis enjoys cycling with her six-year-old son

Daisy Wallis, who lives five minutes from the bridge, said she did not feel safe cycling on the nearby A443 with her six-year-old son.

As a result she said it felt like a "a bridge to nowhere" because they cycle over it and have to turn back again.

"If the county council had managed to finish the muddy bit, then we'd be using it a lot more", she added.

A woman with long blonde hair, green coat and jumper, and small gold hoop earrings, stands at the entrance to the muddy Severn Way path. There are three red and white diversion signs with arrows on behind her.
Karen Lewing, a Green Party city councillor, called on the county council to work with its partners to upgrade the path

Karen Lewing, a Green Party city councillor, said the whole project felt "a bit pointless" because of the inaccessible path.

She added: "In the scoping of the project they thought this was on the too hard to do list."

The councillor called on the county council to talk to the Environment Agency and the Severn Rivers Trust about improvements that could be made to the path.

A spokesperson for the council said the Kepax Bridge had been a "huge success" since it opened on 5 December with "many thousands" of people using it.

They added: "The path along the river is prone to flooding, and although it is used by some walkers, it is not a defined public right of way, so is not maintainable by our Public Rights of Way team."

More on this story
Related internet links