New service advises cyclists when paths are flooded

A cyclist group has launched a website service advising people when riverside paths are flooded.

Bike Worcester's scheme uses information about current river levels, through Environment Agency (EA) monitors, and compares this with crowdsourced observations from volunteers, to provide a status update for each path.

People using the service can continue to submit observations as to whether paths remain flooded.

Group chair Dan Brothwell said the scheme came out of a need from the cycling community "so they could plan their route accordingly".

"One of the best things about travelling by bike is that the journey time is predictable, however this isn't the case if you get to the river and have to turn back due to flooding," he said.

The group said the service, which can be viewed via the Bike Worcester website, shares with the public "the status of the riverside paths subject to flooding, and whether they are available for use, or are under water".

It draws on publicly available data from EA monitors at Barbourne and Diglis in Worcester.

The system then compares this with hundreds of observations by Bike Worcester volunteers over the last year.

People using the new system can provide updates as to when the city council has cleaned mud and silt after flooding.

The cyclist group represents a community of hundreds of people based in and around Worcester who regularly use a bike as a mode of transport.

One member, Rob Collier, said it had developed the new service "in our own time at our own cost".

"If it proves to be useful for Worcester we may look to roll it out to other towns and cities," he said.

Volunteer Al Pagan, who worked on the initiative, said: "The paths flood when the river is at different levels, so although one side of the river might be closed the other side may still be passable.

"Knowing that the paths are open may be the difference between making a journey by car, or by foot or bike.'

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