Reader's letter: Make improvements for all

I note with interest that the council is proposing to improve the Millennium Bridge at Newark (River Bridge To Be Improved, Advertiser, March 2).

This is good news, but I do hope that the consultant they have engaged takes account of the fact that it was originally opened as a facility for both pedestrians and cyclists.

I believe funding from the Millennium Commission was obtained on this basis.

However, for reasons I cannot comprehend, the ramps were surfaced with wooden decking, a material notoriously unfit for purpose, with the highly predictable result that the slightest shower made the surface slippery and unsafe.

The immediate response was to tack strips of abrasive material, more suited for steps, to the surface, which made cycling even less safe, as well as extremely uncomfortable, and to erect ‘cyclists dismount’ signs as a precaution against legal action from any cyclist unlucky enough to injure themselves in a spill on the bridge.

Despite several previous rounds of “improvements” this has still not been addressed.

Surely the time has come to restore the bridge to its original purpose as a dual-use facility, and if this is not possible then they should repay the proportion of the original award that was for use by cyclists.

It’s easy to say that it’s still possible to push cycles over the bridge but this should not be necessary on a new and supposedly purpose built facility.

A pedestrian pushing a bike is a pedestrian, not a cyclist. ­— M. GRAHAM, via email.