A short stretch of pavement along Van Riebaack St. at Boland College was recently upgraded. Although only 110m section of pavement, it is an important section of the cycle network and we welcome the upgrade.
The section of pavement between the entrance to Boland college and Coetzenburg St. has been widened and new tarmac laid. We can see the before and after below.
“Ok, the short path is a little wider, convenient for the students of Boland, but so what? What’s the big deal?“
This section of Van Riebeeck is an important connection in the cycle network. Specifically, it connects the eastern family neighbourhoods of Simonswyk, Uniepark, Rozendal, Karindal and Mostertsdrift, with the paths on the Erste river which in turn connect to the popular local schools, Paul Roos, Bloemhof and Rhenish.
Looking closely at the natural cycling routes children would use, we see the importance of this small section of Van RieBeeck St.
Improving this short section of pavement improves the cycle network helping enable high school students to travel to school independently, reducing the need for them to be chaffeured to school by parents. And so this small, innocent looking upgrade, can actually help reduce car congestion at the morning and evening peaks caused by the school run in this area.
One official problem is this section of pavement has no signs suggesting it is a shared path for cyclists and pedestrians, however it is well used by cyclists, one need only look at the desire lines before the upgrade. At peak times there will inevitably be conflict between cyclist and groups of Boland college students, even with the upgraded pavement as it does not separate cyclists from pedestrians.
One wonders if the muncipality gave any consideration to the cycling network when upgrading this pavement. We suspect not, for if they did, the turn off to Coetzenburg would have been wider and smoother, whilst at the eastern end the wider pavement would have continued as a raised pavement across the main entrance to Boland College and would join up with the pedestian crossing towards Marais Rd. So this seems like an accidental (but welcome) upgrade to the cycle network.
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