My Experience on the New Deansgate Cycle Lane 🚲

Deansgate is one of those perennial Mancunian talking points.

It looks very different to a decade ago, and will probably be unrecognisable in another 10 years if Manchester council plans to get more people cycling and walking come to fruition.

The latest project — to make the thoroughfare one-way and build a new bike lane outside Great Northern Warehouse — began last August, and was completed at Easter.

It was controversial.

Queues on Deansgate around Christmas had motorists, taxi drivers, and business owners up in arms. But cyclists said it became a ‘much nicer place to be’ because it’s ‘quieter and calmer’.

Now the new infrastructure is a few months old, I cycled the length of Deansgate on a blazing hot lunchtime this week to see if it’s an improvement.