A group that promotes cycling has raised concerns over pedestrian safety at the recently reopened A16 junction with the A151.
The Pedals cycling group first complained about the A16 McDonald’s/Springfields roundabout ahead of its revamp.
Lincolnshire County Council says it has built ‘six new crossings’ as part of the widening and new road lanes.
However, the only additions appear to be the ‘tactile’ slabs, those with a bobbled texture, designed for people with sight difficulties.
The path between Springfields and the McDonald’s and garage on the opposite carriageway, is part of a cycle path to Weston.
“The roundabout has improved the traffic flow but that means pedestrians and cyclists now have to go over five lanes of quicker moving traffic,” said Pedals member David Jones.
“I’m an experienced biking coach, but the new layout intimidates me as a cyclist,” added fellow member Stewart Elderkin, a mountain biker.
“It should be safe for those too young to drive, to walk to McDonald’s without having to rely on the goodwill of drivers to stop and let them cross.
“Many vehicles don’t signal exiting the roundabout, and HGVs take up more than one lane.
“The road is better for those using the A16 but at the expense of pedestrians, including the children of Spalding, which seems to be the wrong way round.
“You can see from the traffic building up on the A151 it’s not benefitting those drivers and that’s even before McDonald’s is back open.
“You’d think with £20m to spend they could have done more.
“These are supposed to be enhancements, but I can’t see any.
“There’s not even any signs been put in to warn drivers there will be pedestrians.
“The path they have put down is smooth and wider to meet guidelines, but then suddenly narrows at the junction to McDonalds, despite there being room to make it wider so pedestrians are not blocking the views coming out of the junction.”
A spokesman for Lincolnshire County Council said building a bridge would have been an ‘extreme’ engineering challenge that would have taken the work beyond the deadline for the funding.
The authority’s project manager Sam Edwards has also previously said that the improvements are about traffic flow, so putting in a crossing with traffic light control was not considered.
The council says it has not ruled out the possibility of additional pedestrian crossing measures being explored in the future.
