‘It’s actually quite shocking’: Complaints over state of Rotherham-Sheffield cycle path

Sheffield City Council has won £6,077,000 from the government’s Transforming Cities Fund (TCF) to invest in schemes that promote cycling and walking and enable people to travel to work and education through greener and healthier forms of travel.

A meeting of the council’s finance committee this week (August 23) agreed a budget increase of £4,480,000 for a project to create safer cycle and pedestrian routes with segregated lanes to connect Sheffield with Rotherham and the main areas of Tinsley and Meadowhall, including the transport interchange.

The first part of the programme of work will see improvements to the Sheffield Road pedestrian crossing near Raby Street to include crossing signals for pedestrians and access for cyclists.

The second part will focus on Meadowhall Way and Blackburn Meadows Way past the junction with Sheffield Road (A6178), up to the edge of the Sheffield and Rotherham council boundary. The work will also include the junctions around Meadowhall Road and Meadowhall Way, Bawtry Road and Vulcan Road.

Rotherham Council is undertaking the work on its side of the route, as far as the Magna Science Adventure Centre in Templeborough.

Coun Shaffaq Mohammed said: “There are a lot of weeds on the Rotherham side, growing out of the cycle path, and a lot of debris.”

He said that he was worried cyclists would choose not to use that section of the path and use the road instead.

He added: “Can we make representations to Rotherham Council? This is a link between Rotherham and Meadowhall – it really doesn’t serve the purpose if their side is full of debris and weeds.”

Committee chair Coun Zahira Naz said that she agreed with Coun Mohammed. “I drove through it yesterday, it isn’t improving,” she said.

“It’s actually quite shocking, especially when you enter the Rotherham boundary, so we do need to have a look at that and make sure that (council highways contractors) Amey are also made aware.

“If we can have an intervention with Rotherham Council, it will have an impact on the Sheffield side too.”