Devon’s longest-running roads wrangle could be settled next week, with cars likely to be allowed back into a long-closed suburban street.
A decision will be made on the future of Exeter’s Dryden Road by members of the city’s highways and transport orders committee (HATOC), bringing down the curtain on more than six years of arguments.
Dryden Road was closed to cars and turned into a cycles-only street during the COVID pandemic in June 2020 as a temporary measure to create a safe and traffic-free route in and out of the city centre.
Two years later the HATOC made the move permanent, to the delight of cyclists and environment campaigners who said it had made the area safer and less polluted.
However, there was mounting opposition to the closure from campaigners who said it had simply moved traffic and pollution elsewhere, mainly into surrounding streets like Bovemoors Lane. It had also created ‘rat runs’ through the nearby hospital grounds.
In July 2025 the HATOC requested a review of the situation, and last October a report on the impact of diverted traffic prompted a fresh public consultation, which was held in March this year.
Now the results of the consultation are in, and the cars are almost certainly coming back.
More than 3,000 people took part in the consultation, with 73 per cent of them favouring the re-introduction of traffic, with cycle lanes marked out alongside the carriageway.
Now the HATOC is being advised by officers to favour a newly-created ‘Option Five’.
This will create a ‘cycle street’ in which riders have priority while the layout still allows two-way motorised traffic. There are cycle lanes on both sides of the road with a narrow central carriageway for cars. Drivers can enter the cycle lane area to pass an oncoming vehicle but must yield to cyclists.
There is a similar layout at Russell Way in Exeter, where there have been no recorded collisions since it was created in 2021.
According to a report to next week’s meeting, Option Five will create ‘a low speed environment that prioritises walking, wheeling and cycling whilst retaining access for two way traffic’.
Although it could cost up to £650,000, officers say it offers better value for money.
The report goes on: “It is recognised that this option differs from those consulted on, however, it seeks to find a compromise between supporting reintroduction of two-way traffic while also creating a suitable environment to maintain a safe, attractive route for active travel at an affordable and deliverable price.”
There will be more public consultation before any work takes place.
One of the leading campaigners for the re-opening of Dryden Road, Ian Frankum, said public support for traffic returning to the street had been ‘unequivocal and overwhelming’, with strong support for an original ‘Option Three’ to bring the cars back.
“Local residents and hospital workers have spoken loudly and in huge numbers,” he said. “This has never been about pitting cyclists against other road users. It is about democracy, meaningful public engagement and listening to the people most affected by these decisions.”
The Exeter Cycling Campaign, meanwhile, says while ‘cycle streets’ are common across Europe, they are designed for places with less potential car traffic than Dryden Road.
No safety assessment has yet been done on the proposed cycle street, and the campaign says there is an apparent conflict between creating an increase in through traffic and creating a cycle street at the same time.
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