Disastrous new "cycle facility"

When work started on a new cycle path on the southbound side of The Causeway in Petersfield, I was hopeful that this would help to promote cycling in the area and maybe encourage a few new cyclists.  Personally I was not fussed.  I use this road very day, and have never felt the need for special treatment.  For a fairly busy road, it is quite safe: wide, nearly straight, with wide verges and good visibility:

In the mornings I cycle up this road and turn left off it in the distance, up a steep country lane.  In the evenings I come down the steep lane, have plenty of time to look around, and turn right into the road.  Nice and simple.

Now the cycle path shown on the left of the photo above has been built, it makes my journey MORE DANGEROUS, SLOWER and LESS PLEASANT, whether I use the path or not!

What happens when I use the path?  I leave the road where the cycle path starts by slowing down (first hazard) and bumping obliquely up a badly dropped kerb (second hazard) onto the path:

On the path I have about a quarter of a mile of traffic-free cycling.  This was quite pleasant for a couple of weeks, until rubbish started to appear on the path and the trees started to grow and hang down below face level (third hazard):

Not to mention the obligatory low-visibility "feature" to keep cyclists on their toes (fourth hazard):

Then a fifth hazard: crossing the entrance to a lay-by, where now I have to give way:

Finally, where before I simply turned left, I now have to slow right down, turn hard left, hard right into the lay-by (sixth hazard) and hard left into the lane:

In the evening it is far worse.  Instead of my right turn with plenty of space and time, I now have to slam the brakes on at the bottom of the hill (seventh hazard), turn hard right (eighth hazard), then hard left over a slippery bit of ridged concrete (ninth hazard), then hard right onto the cycle path for a few metres:

Then it's over the lay-by entrance, back down the path, sometimes facing cyclists who don't realise it's a two-way path (tenth hazard), stop and cross the road at the busy new pinch point: (eleventh hazard)



Because it is a pinch point, the traffic is all bunched up, so it is much harder to get across than the original right turn onto the open road.

OK, so suppose I eschew the cycle path and just use the road as I used to?  Well, the pinch point is a pinch point for me, too.  And it rightly annoys drivers who now often have to stop on an open road::

And they look at me as if I'm responsible for the whole shambles, and shouldn't be on the road anyway because of the cycle path (they're wrong about that, but I can hardly blame them)!

Several hundred thousand pounds will have been spent on this ridiculous, inconvenient, unpleasant and downright dangerous pile of poo.  Oh, and I wonder how many cyclists were consulted?