Cycling on the A6 vs the alternative (spoiler, they’re both bad)

Which would you prefer: cycling in a straight line in hazardous conditions, or taking a quieter but much more roundabout route? We don’t think either of those options are acceptable, so we set out to prove our point with a good old-fashioned bicycle race.

The point of walking and cycling infrastructure is to make active travel an easier, more attractive, more accessible option. NOT to simply keep pedestrians and cyclists out of the way of drivers.

Stockport Council’s A6 Corridor consultation, launched in February 2024, is an opportunity to drastically improve both routes. Instead, the plans maintain the status quo, with cyclists forced to choose between a rock and a hard place.

Have your say on the consultation:
https://consultation.stockport.gov.uk/highways-and-transportation/improving-journeys-a6-in-stockport/

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Hello, I’m Ben, this is Will, and we are here in the middle of Stockport to test out a little bit of a theory, because cycling up the A6, it’s not very pleasant, is it? No. I mean, as you can see, it’s really quite a busy arterial main road

With almost no cycling provision at all along its length. But Stockport Council seem to think that doesn’t really matter because there’s a so-called parallel route, which is an alternative. It’s off road or mostly off road, going all the way between Stockport and Manchester.

We’re going to have a bit of a race, up to the Manchester border and back from Stockport Town Hall. One of us is going to go straight up the A6, and the other is going to follow Stockport Council’s official, official recommended route. How much faster do you think the A6 will be?

I think the A6 will take about 15 to 20 minutes, and I think the other route could be up to 20 minutes slower than that. So the A6, if you’re a commuter, going from Stockport to Manchester, even if you’re only going as far as Levenshulme,

Which is what we’re we’re doing today, let’s say you’re losing 15 minutes on each commute, half an hour each day. You’re losing two and a half hours a week. So I can see why a lot of people would choose to cycle up the A6 instead, because it’s a straight line.

The trade off, though, is that it’s just not safe. Wish us luck. – Bye bye! – See you on the other side. Okay, we made it to Station South via our different routes. How was that for you, Will? As always, on that road, I could tell, if I was a new cyclist

Or less confident, or had children with me, there’s there’s no way I’d be able to do any of what I just did. And for me, the bit that took me the longest was getting out of Stockport. Partly because it’s just a very, very, very wiggly route.

And personally, I’d much rather go in a straight line. Then you go through the Heatons, and then you kind of get the pudding of Highfield Country Park and the Fallowfield Loop. And that was really nice, really pleasant. Lots of greenery, lovely wide path. Nice surface. There’s pedestrians around, the dog walkers around,

But there’s plenty of space to negotiate that. So that bit I really enjoyed. So, back the opposite way. I’ll go down the A6 and you’ll go down the wiggly path. – The quiet routes, yeah. – You’ll start with the pudding. Yeah, so twice as long taking the so-called parallel route.

I’m starting to question their definition of the word “parallel” a little bit. The A6 was mostly fine, but I still had a close pass at one point, in a bus lane, cycle lane, that wasn’t 24-hour. The only thing coming close to infrastructure is paint, which as we know, isn’t infrastructure.

Another issue with the off-road route is personal safety. I mean, bits like Nelstrop Road and the Fallowfield Loop, really great for everyone to use during the day and when there’s other pedestrians and cyclists around. But would you really feel comfortable using it on your own at night?

Yeah, we’d love to know how that’s going to be improved and how safety is going to be taken into account on those routes. So enabling people to choose to walk or cycle for their journeys means having infrastructure options that work for everyone. At the moment, those people who want to make their journeys

Quickly, to get to get to work on time, they’re taking their life into their own hands, you might say. The A6, the space is there, it’s ripe for improvement, and it could be done relatively easily. Cycling infrastructure is there to promote and encourage walking and cycling.

It’s not there just to push cyclists out of the way. So I think the takeaway for me is, yes, we absolutely welcome improvements to that parallel route. There’s loads of potential there. There’s some really good aspects to it, but… Ultimately it needs to be backed up by direct

Protected cycling infrastructure all the way along the A6. Absolutely.