A TRIAL to see if a cycle lane would be suitable for a busy Kendal road got under way this week.

Morning commuters to Kendal will have noticed a narrowed Wildman Street on their way into work on Monday, as water-filled barriers were installed down the length of the road on Sunday night.

It is part of a trial to assess the suitability of the road to hold a cycle lane, as part of plans that could see a continuous cycleway around Kendal.

Wildman Street has been narrowed to the extent that traffic turning left for Castle Street, right for Beezon Road, or continuing straight over Stramongate Bridge, has to merge into one lane before the junction.

Many objectors to the trial had expressed concerns that narrowing the road would result in carnage for motorists, while there were also fears over pollution and the safety of other road users. So far at least, it appears none of those worries have come to fruition.

Between 8am and 9am on Monday, the first morning of the trial, traffic appeared to cope well with the adjustments, only periodically bunching up around the busy junction of Ann Street, Longpool, and Station Road.

The two-month trial has been deliberately scheduled so traffic can be monitored during a holiday period as well as when there is increased traffic when the new school term begins in September.

Cllr David Evans, South Lakeland District Council member for the Mintsfeet ward, said it was only then that the true impact on traffic would be understood. He also said the scale of the alterations to the road had surprised him. He was anticipating more significant changes and struggled to see how cyclists would benefit if the cycle lane was approved.

"I envisaged there being a two-foot gap between the kerb and water-filled barriers," he said. "I don't see how it really works – it would be a very narrow cycle lane – it just doesn't seem to be offering anything.

"What they've done is so small compared to what I was expecting that there hasn't been any major disturbances."

Tony Porter, who works at Cumbria Oak at Wildman Street, agreed traffic implications would be clearer when children return to school, but added traffic was backing up quicker than prior to the trial. He also expressed reservations with the benefits of the lane if it went ahead.

He said: "The idea seems to be to move cyclists off the road and to mix cyclists with pedestrians on what will still be a very narrow pavement.

"This street is very busy with schoolchildren, young mums with prams and toddlers going to and from the two big schools nearby, as well as shoppers from the north of the town.

"I worry that the slightly extended pavement area will not be sufficient for this mix of pedestrians and cyclists. It won't, for example, be the wide pavement over the bridge or the new one by the leisure centre. I do worry about pedestrians being forced into the path of traffic on this very busy and narrow road."

A spokesperson for Cumbria County Council said: “We are closely monitoring traffic flows on Wildman Street during this trial period to assess the traffic impact of introducing a cycle way on this road."