A Virtual Stroll Along the Mickle Trafford-Shotton Railway
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The
other
side
of
the
footbridge
that
connects
Kingsway
via
the
playing
fields
with
Fairfield
Road
and
the
Newton
Hollows-
and,
as
described
earlier,
the
point
where
the
great
improvements
brought
about
by
the
construction
of
the
SUSTRANS
cycletrack
unaccountably
come
to
an
abrupt
and
inexplicable
end... In contrast, below, we can see the same bridge as featured in one of the council's (con?)- 'artist's impressions' of the CDTS busway as they imagine it would appear "five years after opening"- a dreary, utilitarian environment whose only function would appear to be to shift shoppers from the giant Manning's Lane Park & Ride to the city centre and back again. |
 What
appeal
is
a
place
like
this
likely
to
have
for
Chester's
hard-pressed
families,
desperate
for
a
place
to
relax,
breathe
clean
air
and,
just
for
once,
enjoy
a
bit
of
peace
and
quiet
out
of
the
sight,
noise
and
smell
of
motor
vehicles?The trackbed at this point is fairly wide and, allowing for the destruction of the wildlife-rich embankment on the right of the above photograph, a two-lane bus road and cycletrack may conceivably be made to fit here. But, as we have observed in numerous locations throughout the course of our stroll, such is certainly not the case with much of the rest of the line of the old railway, where radical destruction of the surrounding trees and shrubs- not to mention the newly-constructed SUSTRANS cycletrack- seems inevitable.... |