Dedicated Cycle Track Lostock Road Davyhulme, and Barton Road Urmston

In 1936, Cycling magazine published a photograph of a young woman riding on a wide, concrete cycle track on Lostock Road, Urmston. Plans for the road had been unveiled in January 1934, one month before the Ministry of Transport decided to build an experimental cycle track on London’s Western Avenue. In March of that year, Urmston Urban District Council requested that “instead of 60 feet as required by the Regional Planning Scheme,” the road should be 80 feet across. It is probable that this addition was to accommodate cycle tracks and footways on both sides of the road. The cycle tracks were later extended along Barton Road although the construction of the M60 Motorway would sever the link. The widening of Barton Road was planned in December 1937, records minutes from the Highways and Sewerage Committee for the Borough of Stretford. However, work did not commence until June 1941 with the construction completed in mid-September 1942. The contractor was W Snape and Sons of Eccles who tendered £9,171 for the work.  Cycling never enjoyed the same popularity as in the Netherlands and the cycle tracks remain underused, not helped by the parking of cars along their length.

THE FIRST CYCLE TRACKS - The Ministry of Transport has approved of a plan for constructing cycle tracks along a three-quarter mile stretch of Barton Road, Urmston, and it is expected that work on the scheme will start quite soon. This is believed to be the first cycle track proposal in Lancashire that has been given approval. It was prepared for the Urmston Urban District Council by Mr E L Leeming, the council surveyor, and was submitted to the Ministry t5hrough Lancashire County Council. The stretch of road concerned, which lies between the war memorial circle at Davyhulme and the junction with Moss Road at the Stretford Boundary, has already been widened to 80 feet, and all is ready for the construction of the tracks. On either side of the 30 feet carriageway there will be a grass verge of 4 feet 6 in., a 9-foot cycle track of concrete and then a grass verge of 4 feet 6 in. and a 7-foot footpath.  The verges will be planted with shrubs.

Proposals have been made for extending the scheme northwards from the memorial circle for about three-quarters of a mile to the junction of Ashburton Road and Redclyffe Road, adjoining Barton Power Station and for about two-thirds of a mile within the borough of Stretford. In both cases, existing roads would have to be more than doubled in width. The whole scheme is intended to serve the heavy volume of motor and cycle traffic that travels along Barton Road to Trafford Park. Special provision will be made to avoid the danger of collision between traffic on the cycle tracks and traffic entering from side roads, of which there are seven along the approved length. It will probably be made compulsory for side road traffic to stop at the cycle tracks before crossing into the main road. The provision of grass verges and shrubberies between the carriageway, the cycle tracks and the pavement is a valuable aid to the safety of pedestrians. In some Continental towns where cycle tracks are in use - Hamburg for example - there is no such boundary, and the unobservant pedestrian who has escaped the terrors of the road finds himself in danger of being knocked down by cyclists until he learns to walk well away from the edge of the pavement. [Manchester Guardian 2 January 1936 page 11] 

TRACKS FOR CYCLISTS - Lostock Road, Davyhulme, which is one of the few roads to have separate tracks for cyclists, has a special interest at the present time, when the Minister of Transport is pressing the laying down of tracks. The reconstruction of the stretch of road is not yet finished, and only half of the three-quarters of a mile of double track is in use. ft is, therefore, too early to say whether cyclists ae easily taking to the use of the tracks, but Mr E. L. Leeming, the Urmston surveyor, who planned the road, finds that some are doing so, and has little doubt that the rest will when the complete stretch is open The road connects the main Chester Road with northern through traffic on the A6 and East Lancashire Road to Liverpool. Red concrete has been used to pave the two cycle-tracks, and green grass verges separate each from the footpath and from the 30-foot carriageway, of tar macadam. The width of the tracks is ten feet, which is greater than many on the Continent. Manchester has not planned cycle-tracks for any of the roads it has yet made or projected, an official of the Highways Department sard to-day, however, that that the question will be considered for any future main roads. It has been discussed with reference to the eastern by-pass, the plans of which are not finally decided. [Manchester Guardian 28 August 1936 page 11]