Problems

The entrance to the retail park sends people down a steep path and into conflict with drivers using the KFC. Very poor sight lines for those exiting the drive-through.
The entrance then exits into a carpark with no clearly marked paths within the retail park.
No direct route into the retail park from the Maxwelltown Path, serving people in Summerhill, Barnhill, Lochside and Lincluden.

Proposals

Update the Glasgow Road crossing to prioritise those walking and wheeling, and cycling (as is laid out in the sustainable transport hierarchy).
Remove barriers at the Glasgow Road crossing, to make it more accessible, allowing people to cross in a single cycle of the lights, rather than having to wait in the middle for the green man.
Retire the current steep entrance which sends people into conflict with drivers exiting the KFC drive-through.
Create a clear and direct pathway to both sets of shops, with an improved cycle route from both crossings of Glasgow Road into the retail park.
Create a new direct route from the Maxwelltown Path into the rear of the retail park and join it to the access road which runs behind Tesco.

Benefits

Clearing barriers at crossing and making them single cycle crossing would reduce waiting times and increase accessibility.
Increased road safety within the retail park.
New direct routes which encourage more active travel and reduce congestion.

At a glance

Council Ward: 6 - North West Dumfries

Total route length:

Travel times: By bike ≈ / e-bike ≈

Total gap length:

Placeholder photo

Explore the gaps on Missing Link #11 - Cuckoo Bridge Retail Centre

The Details

This missing link is a tale of two supermarkets – Aldi and Tesco, both of which are a stone’s throw from the Maxwelltown Path, the flagship part of our traffic-free network. Yet, as the map shows, getting to one from the path is a lot more straightforward than getting to the other.

The pink line on the map above shows the short, direct route from the Maxwelltown Path to the cycle parking by the Aldi entrance. Getting to Tesco, or any of the dozen or so shops in the Cuckoo Bridge Retail Park from the nearest point on the Maxwelltown Path, is more complicated (see the yellow line on the map). First the Maxwelltown Path exits beside The Bridge on the opposite side of Glasgow Street to the retail park. So now you’re on the wrong side of a busy road and the crossing looks like this. You have arrived at the intersection of the A75 and A76.

Once you’ve waited for both sets of lights and negotiated your bike or shopping trolley or wheelchair or double buggy through the barriers in the middle, you’re faced with your next obstacle. The official entrance by bike or on foot to one of our largest shopping areas is through the exit of the KFC drive-through.

Coming from town is a little better, in that the crossing from Goldie Park onto the shared use path beside the retail park is a single cycle of the lights, although you’re still very much on your own once you’ve crossed and want to access the shops. All in all, cycling feels very much like an afterthought, rather than something that has been encouraged and built in from the start.

The difference between these two destinations is in a sense a good news story – when the Aldi opened in 2017, direct access to the Maxwelltown Path for cyclists and pedestrians was a planning requirement. This shows that it’s a lot easier and cheaper to build active travel into developments from the start rather than trying to add them on to a car-centric design after everything has been built. Out-of-town retail parks can have a detrimental effect on town centres, but places like Cuckoo Bridge are part of Dumfries now, and at the very least, they should be more accessible by bike from all directions, and people shouldn’t be hampered by long crossing times or sent the long way round while cars just go straight in. Not all of our proposed improvements are within the remit of the council. Working in partnership, the council and the owners of the retail park could significantly improve access to this key part of the town’s economy – and help enable more people to make their shopping trips more sustainable.