Mark Bradshaw - a man in the firing line

Councillor Mark Bradshaw is a brave man to put himself in front of the firing line over the Prince Street Bridge proposal.

Whether you admire the courage of his convictions or deplore his lack of judgement over the scheme, shutting one lane of the bridge to motorists is certainly a bold move.

He must have known about the outrage the proposal would provoke but he still turned up for the press call on a windy, cold Thursday morning to attach his face - and his reputation - to the scheme.

It will be interesting to see if he can stand firm in the face of the gale of criticism which will doubtlessly follow the announcement of this proposal.

And similar intrigue will follow the first few days of the scheme, to see whether the transport planners have properly calculated their traffic flows.

I've met Mark many times - we've clashed on some issues and agreed on others - and he has a genuinely long-term vision for transport in the greater Bristol area.

But with this Cycling City bid, he is caught between a rock and a hard place.

On the one hand, the city has just been given more than £11 million to turn Bristol into a showcase for cycling.

Just last night, the city was featured on the BBC's Newsnight programme as a paragon of eco-friendly transport activity.

With sustainability a national buzz-word, the eyes of the country are on Bristol to see what it does with the money.

But on the other hand, Councillor Bradshaw faces the more immediate task of representing the majority of Bristolians who use their cars to struggle through the city's highly sensitive road network every day.

It's a risky, tricky game but one which he's clearly prepared to play.

Maybe, just maybe, this is another scheme which will prove to be surprisingly successful.

To be fair, we all expected the opening of Cabot Circus to be a transport nightmare - but the gridlock never happened.

Whatever the result, Mr Bradshaw will no doubt continue to do what he thinks is the right for the city.

So we will wait and see whether the Prince Street Bridge proposal is a calculated and courageous measure, or just fatally flawed.