Cycling through public projects/funding we may oppose

As a generality, we tend to oppose the spending of public money on things we don't/won't personally use. The NHS used to a rather obvious exception but, of course, Reform say they want an insurance-based health service and as that party is seemingly quite popular presently then their supporters must, I guess, be opposed to public funding of the NHS.

Anyway, I digress as this posting is about spending on transport infrastructure. In my part of the world Sefton Council is presently building cycle/pedestrian facilities along a section of the A59. The works and the reasons for them don't seem to have much public support, at least as far as postings on a local Facebook Community Group are concerned. Are community Facebook Groups representative of much, much wider actual communities though? There’s a whole piece of research to be done there of course.

 

 

Disruption (road works) during the construction is obviously unpopular, probably even more so than the end result, although people who virtually never walk or cycle probably just see the whole project as being a waste of their money. Do they also disapprove of public money being spent subsidising buses or trains as they rarely, if ever, use them?

I cycle, walk and drive but I try not to use my car on short trips around my community, so I'm probably in a pretty small minority. I've tried the new cycle paths through Lydiate and they're fine but just a mile up the A59 the same but very long established cycle tracks (in Aughton, Lancashire) are very poorly maintained. They're rutted, have clumps of grass growing in them and the parallel pedestrian paths are pretty much impassable in parts. Will this brand new section become the same in the future?

My other gripe is that cycle facilities/infrastructure projects, at least on Merseyside but I suspect countrywide, are usually limited to what I'll call big/grandiose schemes with the many smaller changes required within communities to make cycling safer and to encourage more folks to get on their bikes never happening.

So yes, I'm happy with the A59 cycle paths, although I do know a fellow cyclist who disapproves of the works, I might add. 

 

You petrol heads can now shout at me as your taxes are being spent on a project you'll probably very much oppose, but which is fine with the minority group I belong to.