Cycle Paths in the Raynesway Area

Here is a copy of a report requested by Les regarding the progress of new and rerouted paths around the roadworks in the Raynesway area.


The current state of Cycle Paths around Raynesway




1. Starting from Green Lane bridge – where there is a route 66 sign pointing towards Raynesway – the path follows the contour of the old section of the Alvaston by pass before turning north to circulate round the new roundabout on the river side of the “new” A6. As it turns to cross the new road into the Commercial Park there are blue direction signs. The sign indicating the Riverside path is correctly shown with the “6” in brackets to indicate that it is a link but the supplementary local signs have no reference to route 66. See photograph below:

2. On the original drawings there were 2 new link paths from the river-side roundabout to the Riverside path, east of Raynesway tip. These are in situ, the most easterly one being tarmacced and open while the more westerly path is closed pending the application of tarmac to the sub surface. In reality they are so close that only one of them was necessary.

3. The path crosses Raynesway Park Drive and, although it is fairly obvious where the path goes, there are no signs there except for the blue circular shared path signs. It may be that this is a temporary arrangement as work is still ongoing on the main carriageway under the new bridge.

4. The path alongside Raynesway had a final tarmac top surface all the way to Raynesway bridge where the short link to the Riverside path leaves to the east, although as yet they lack the white dividing line. Interestingly there are two almost duplicate signs at this junction but the newer one which carries reference to route 66 is set several metres back from the junction with the link road and could easily mislead the visiting cyclist. See the photograph below:

Author's Note. The picture referred to above will not load into the blog so you will either have to go and look for yourselves or e-mail me to ask for a copy of the piccy.

The older signpost and signs need to be removed and the newer post should be moved back to the junction so that it is clear that route 66 goes left and right along Raynesway.


5. There is a link to Alvaston from the west side of Raynesway bridge, although at the moment part of this is a wheeled route.

6. The link to Alvaston from the east side of the bridge actually leaves the path several hundred metres further east by way of several sets of light controlled crossings. At the moment the path is somewhat temporary in nature and is not signed.

7. There is a blue sign on the Raynesway East Service indicating the route to Spondon and Alvaston respectively but again there is no expected reference to route 66.

8. There is no signage at the junction of the East Service Road and Megaloughton Lane.

9. The Riverside path now has a crushed dust top surface where it passes under the bridge over the river but heavy vehicular traffic has damaged the surface which is now holding water.

10. The link path from the Green Lane bridge to the Riverside path, which was used as the R6 diversion while construction of the bridge was ongoing is now correctly signed in both directions and has an acceptable surface.