Derwent Valley Cycleway<\/a> proposed to run from Hathersage to Shardlow<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\nThe route has always been popular, linking Derby City Centre with Elvaston Castle and onwards towards Long Eaton and Nottingham. The western part of the route (between the city centre and Raynesway refuse tip) is a generally excellent tarmac surface and is, in most places, 3m wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, eastwards of the Raynesway tip, the surface consisted of crushed stone and, over the years, this had degraded unsatisfactorily. The route was covered by puddles. Using the route after wet weather ensured that cycles (and cyclists) were covered in filth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tPuddles, puddles everywhere!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe surface damage was made worse as the River Derwent periodically floods. The river flow over the surface of the path had scoured out the surface and the underlying path foundations. Various unsatisfactory repairs (laying more stone and lightly rolling it) were made over the years but these only lasted until the next flood event. It was clear that a sealed surface (e.g. tarmac), which can withstand a water flow, was needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tFlood damage showing path foundations destroyed<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nGoodman (the owners of the nearby logistic park) were responsible for the worst section of the path and made annual attempts to fix the worst of the flooding but never addressed the fundamental problem that a sealed surface was needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Various organisations have discussed the issues with Derby City Council and the slow rate of progress in addressing the problems (mostly a zero rate of progress!) was frustrating. I recall meeting with the Council and Sustrans back in 2018 to discuss the issues but without effective resolution. However, with the recent completion of excellent quality improvements, it shows these discussions were worthwhile. While frustrating that campaigning often seems to have little effect, it is gratifying to think that the “drip, drip, drip” and ongoing discussions with DCG and other bodies eventually resulted in the City Council desire and funding to address the issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Improvements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n As well as creating a very smooth 3m wide route, the work has also resulted in removing the barrier at the Borrowash end of the route which restricted access to certain people on non-conventional bikes (e.g. trailers) or those with some disabilities. Access is now through a gap with a well spaced bollard. These improvements also open up the route to mobility scooters and similar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tEastern end of Riverside path near to Borrowash bridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nComments<\/h2>\n\n\n\n With every bit of work there are always things still to do or that could have been done differently. However, overall, those of us at the DCG (and others from the feedback we’ve heard) are very pleased with the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There has been some criticism that the tarmac surface will be slippery in times of frost and ice but this equally applies to every tarmac road, cycle path and pavement in the city so is just a reminder for users to be careful in inclement weather. The Council should be encouraged to maintain key cycle routes in the same way as they maintain key roads (e.g. by gritting).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The link from the Riverside path to Elvaston Castle remains as crushed stone and, in one place in particular, there is flood damage that needs addressing and which has been reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tTurnoff to Elvaston Castle from Riverside path near to weir<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tIssue on link route to Elvaston Castle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThere are no barriers throughout the whole route between Derby City centre and Borrowash but there remain some restrictions (e.g. tight turns, slopes) which may cause issues to some users. There are a few barriers remaining on link routes to the path (e.g. at the link to Raynesway Park Drive near the Blue Jay island). <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\tLink route to Raynesway Park Drive<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOverall an excellent job has been done. We’re pleased to see the improvements (after many years of frustrations!) and look forward to further improvements across the Derby area (we’re not short of ideas as to where they should be!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well done Derby City Council and Sustrans. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Updated: July 2024 Work finally finished! We’re very pleased to see that, after many years of discussions and involving many organisations (including DCG) the shortcomings of the Riverside Path have been addressed and the route is now an excellent, 3m wide (in most places), tarmac, barrier free route between the city centre and Borrowash. Recently… Continue reading Derby Riverside Path<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-49087","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/derbycyclinggroup.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/49087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/derbycyclinggroup.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/derbycyclinggroup.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derbycyclinggroup.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/derbycyclinggroup.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49087"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/derbycyclinggroup.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/49087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49112,"href":"https:\/\/derbycyclinggroup.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/49087\/revisions\/49112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/derbycyclinggroup.org.uk\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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