Motorists' fury over £102m cycle lane scheme that has made busy road 'too NARROW' for emergency services
MOTORISTS are raging over a £102million cycle lane scheme that has left roads "too NARROW" for emergency services.
Paramedics have been forced to mount six-inch raised curbs to get dying people to A&E in Bournemouth, Dorset, after the bike-only lanes were extended.
The road – a direct route to Bournemouth Hospital near the A347 – was narrowed as part of a £102million Transforming Cities scheme to encourage eco-friendly travel across South East Dorset.
But the plan has been blasted as a "waste of money" by raging locals who claim ambulances and fire engines can't fit through any more.
Blue-light workers now have to weave through stacked-up rush hour traffic with pictures showing tyre marks on the concrete kerb from where drivers were forced to mount it.
A firefighter told MailOnline: "Usually cars can part, even if it means bumping up on the kerb. The kerbs are massive now so they can't do that."
Resident Jean McLucas, who lives close by, said: "We have just driven down it and I feel rather claustrophobic as you are actually hemmed in by the high kerbs on the nearside.
"There is no 'escape route' to be able to move over out of the way of anything coming towards you on the wrong side of the road or even be able to move over to make a wider path to let emergency vehicles come through the middle."
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Fellow local Chris Edwards added: "Not sure how a fire engine could get through if the traffic is solid both ways as the curbs are too high to drive up to clear the way.
"Total waste of money and creating a potential danger."
A spokesman for BCP Council claimed roads were wide enough for ambulances and fire engines to get through.
He said: "It is reassuring to see that vehicles are carefully moving to the side of the road creating space for the ambulance to pass.
"It is not necessary to mount the kerb and we would not advise any vehicle to do this.
"The carriageway on Whitelegg Way is between 6.4m and 6.6m wide, adhering to current national standards set by the Department for Transport.
"It is able to be used safely by all vehicles, including emergency services vehicles, and has undergone, and will continue to undergo, a number of independent road safety audits.
"The Transforming Cities Fund programme team are working with the emergency vehicle operators and have not received any objections about Whitelegg Way."
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