Crediton - Exeter proposed cycle route

[briantrumpet]

If you cycle in Devon you might be interested to look at the article below, with a link to a survey. Some folk are studying the feasibility and options for a cycle route from Crediton to Exeter, avoiding the A377 (a road that is quite busy, and is populated by a few more "get out of my way" drivers than some others in the area). It certainly would be a good addition to the cycle routes in Devon, though, inevitably, the comments bring out the antis and their various reasons. (You might notice I've smoked out the "the road's entirely unsuited to cycling" comment writer as really meaning "I don't want bikes on my road.)

Anyway, here's the link if you want to read, or you'd like to follow the link to the survey (or comment on the article) http://www.exeterexpressandecho.co....diton-Exeter/story-28599648-detail/story.html

 

[Ajax Bay]

Frankly, the low level route/road from Crediton round towards Thorverton and turn south at Shute cross through Langford gets you most of the way - and it's only 2km longer. Just needs the half mile link down to Cowley sorted. The very quiet St Andrew's Road can take you down to the path(s) beside the River Exe.

 

[briantrumpet]

Frankly, the low level route/road from Crediton round towards Thorverton and turn south at Shute cross through Langford gets you most of the way - and it's only 2km longer. Just needs the half mile link down to Cowley sorted. The very quiet St Andrew's Road can take you down to the path(s) beside the River Exe.

I do quite often go that way, but it gets very muddy at times, and isn't very walker-friendly either. The popularity of the Tarka Trail further north east shows what can be achieved with a non-road alternative.

If anyone does fancy posting a response, the latest post from 'Old Cynic' says "
[Me] Ah, OK, so "totally unsuited for cycling" really translates as "I don't want bikes to impede my car journey at all".
[Old Cynic] My question is "Why should it?"

Always my concern with alternatives is that 'old cynics' see it as an opportunity to try to say that cyclists shouldn't be on whatever road the old cynics want to hurtle along. They'll pretend they are concerned for the cyclists safety... in the same way that the Mafia is concerned for the safety of the people they take protection money off.

 

[mjr]

Frankly, the low level route/road from Crediton round towards Thorverton and turn south at Shute cross through Langford gets you most of the way - and it's only 2km longer. Just needs the half mile link down to Cowley sorted. The very quiet St Andrew's Road can take you down to the path(s) beside the River Exe.

Looking on a map, that seems obvious, yes. The other one that cycle.travel/map suggests is getting all the climbing done at the start by heading south and turning east to approach through Nadderwater. Returning by using more of NCR 279 makes it a longer but shallower climb.

That's 40m more climbing than if the Cowley half mile link cycle track is built - is the route over the hill nasty enough to be worth it? There are probably lots of places in Devon far more cut-off AFAIK

 

[briantrumpet]

Looking on a map, that seems obvious, yes. The other one that cycle.travel/map suggests is getting all the climbing done at the start by heading south and turning east to approach through Nadderwater. Returning by using more of NCR 279 makes it a longer but shallower climb.

That's 40m more climbing than if the Cowley half mile link cycle track is built - is the route over the hill nasty enough to be worth it? There are probably lots of places in Devon far more cut-off AFAIK

Well, I guess the point of the survey is to gauge demand, apart from anything else. As I mentioned, the lanes round there are only OKish - they get truly filthy in wet weather, and don't have many passing places (it's definitely single track for long stretches). Crediton to Exeter is one of the main commuter routes into Exeter, so I can see why it's at least worth investigating, as well as for the tourism opportunities. You don't have to go far in Devon to see how much use well-designed cycle tracks get: for the Exe Estuary Trail "Comparison data from 2011/2014 shows that there has been a 42% increase in usage of the trail over that period from 181,581 to 257,189 cycle trips" many of which are commuters from Exmouth to Exeter.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating - I'd be interested to see the comparison, but Exmouth to Exeter is 11 miles, Crediton to Exeter only 8 miles, but I'd guess a far higher number commute by bike from Exmouth, simply because of the cycle track.

It's worth asking the question.

 

[Ajax Bay]

@briantrumpet - Good points. The flood plain and its edge would be the challenge for a direct path down the valley. Also I'd just point out that Exmouth is 5 times the size of Crediton and the cyclepath goes on to Budleigh (another 6000+) so you'd expect many, many more to be commuting in. And a fair few commute south to Exmouth.

The other one that cycle.travel/map suggests is getting all the climbing done at the start by heading south and turning east to approach through Nadderwater. Returning by using more of NCR 279 makes it a longer but shallower climb.

More than twice the climb and those roads are worse: some steep, hilly and you have to be careful on the way down because they're so narrow. Not really a commute.
Get enough cyclists on the A377 and motorised vehicle users will/may become accustomed to having to allow more time for their commute. Some may even decide to leave the car behind, given the challenges of Exeter parking and general traffic.

 

[briantrumpet]

@briantrumpet - Good points. The flood plain and its edge would be the challenge for a direct path down the valley. Also I'd just point out that Exmouth is 5 times the size of Crediton and the cyclepath goes on to Budleigh (another 6000+) so you'd expect many, many more to be commuting in. And a fair few commute south to Exmouth.

More than twice the climb and those roads are worse: some steep, hilly and you have to be careful on the way down because they're so narrow. Not really a commute.
Get enough cyclists on the A377 and motorised vehicle users will/may become accustomed to having to allow more time for their commute. Some may even decide to leave the car behind, given the challenges of Exeter parking and general traffic.

Options to get less keen cyclists commuting in Devon are very restricted indeed, as away from the main roads many of the routes are truly lumpy bumpy, twisty and narrow. Even I rarely scale the heights to Nadderwater - as you note, not a sensible proposition, especially for a commute.

Point taken re population densities - but I suspect few of those bike commuters would do so if they had to go by the A376 every morning...the last time I rode the length of that was in 1983, I think.

 

[briantrumpet]

Usual tired arguments now being trotted out by old_cynic in the comments... "ban cyclists from roads when tax payers have paid for a cycle path blah, blah, blah..". I've asked him to tell us which other Devon roads he wants to ban us from...