Furious locals have blasted a council after a section of its flagship £13.4m cycle route was left looking "wonky".<br /><br />Residents in the trendy Manchester suburb of Chorlton-Cum-Hardy have been driven mad by the 'dangerous' crooked 0.7mile stretch of the cycle lane - that took a year to build.<br /><br />And a bizarre-looking ‘cyclops’ (Cycle Optimised Protected Signals) junction further down the road has also left motorists scratching their heads.<br /><br />The path - which alone cost £2.3m - looks almost nothing like the glossy ‘Dutch style’ plans laid out roughly six years ago when the route was first unveiled by council chiefs.<br /><br />And locals now fear the bike path on Barlow Moor Road, where cyclists are separated from cars by a series of raised blocks, will cause mayhem for road users.<br /><br />One cyclist fumed on Facebook: “If you raise the curbs and put objects in the way of cycle[s] it's more dangerous as we have no way to get out the way if there is a car coming for you.”<br /><br />Another resident added: "The public have been messed around for nearly four years it's taken to put these in place. <br /><br />“The wonkyness is representative of the 'love' (not) gone into them - the lack of education around people using bikes and the road.<br /><br />A third resident commented: “Those blocks in the road look very dangerous to me. It won’t be long before cars are crashing there.”<br /><br />And another chimed in: "Dreadful workmanship, proper boneshaker path that, no wonder some cyclists use roads instead."<br /><br />The £13.4m project to install new cycle lanes in the leafy Chorlton neighbourhood began four years ago - as part of a £1.5bn investment project named ‘Beelines’. <br /><br />Manchester City Council had said at the time it would make “walking and cycling safer” and “reduce the number of short journeys by car” for residents. <br /><br />But local businesses claim the years of traffic disruptions required to install the new bike routes have severely hit their profits.<br /><br />Besmira Myrtaj, 38, the co-owner of Greek restaurant Sali’s Souvlaki, said she was losing £10,000 a month due to constant road works and feared going under.<br /><br />She said: “We have lost a lot of money. <br /><br />"We have been losing like £10,000 per month. I have to pay the loan tomorrow – I cannot pay. I can’t pay anything. We have a lot of problems. <br /><br />"A lot of places have closed. People cannot come to us, and we have to pay the rent, the electricity, the business loan. It’s a very, very bad situation.<br /><br />“A lot of businesses aren’t working because they don’t have customers. People do not come this way. They go around because they can’t stop here."<br /><br />Matty Shirtcliff, 24, an assistant manager at the bistro Mary & Archie, said ongoing bike lane construction outside his premises was also turning away customers.<br /><br />He said: “We did have some days that were very quiet, and because of the fences and access we didn’t get as much traffic through.<br /><br />“It has been a big old nuisance, and it just looks a mess outside. I agree with them putting in cycle lanes but they shouldn’t take this long.
