Ah, this bit of crucial context seems to be missing from the entire rest of the discussion. Also makes what otherwise sounds like an uncharacteristically bike-hostile move actually seem fairly reasonable.

Tho tbf one still hopes that they come up with an infrastructure solution that makes it unnecessary in the long run.

I'm not sure whether the Guardian article mentioned this or another one I read: the road segment in question seems to be in the old town which makes it difficult to find an architectural solution.