Work begins on 40 schemes as part of £100M cycling package

Work has started on more than 40 schemes as part of the government’s £100M dedicated fund for cycling.

Highways England are delivering 200 projects across the country over the next five years, after the government set up £100M of funding for cyclists in its Road Investment Strategy.

More than 40 of the schemes have now begun and are due to be completed by this Spring.

The schemes will provide cyclists with new facilities which are safe, suitable for cyclists of any ability and separate from traffic. The work is part of a transformational programme to make travelling by bike safer, but also a more attractive option.

The first phase of the cycling programme will see cycle lanes and crossings created or improved at nine motorway junctions, with major A roads across England having new cycle lanes, crossings and signs installed.

They include improvements at 11 locations along a 2.5 mile stretch of the A12 in Lowestoft, Suffolk, to provide a high quality cycle route through the town, a new footbridge over the A27 in Kingsham in Hampshire, and new signs on a 12 mile stretch of the A590 in Cumbria.

Highways England’s Cycling Champion, Richard Leonard, said: “These improvements will make cycling easier around major A roads and over motorway junctions across England. They will contribute towards a connected, comfortable, attractive and high quality cycling network, suitable and safe for use by people of all ages and abilities.

“We want to provide safe, accessible and integrated cycling facilities that give people a genuine choice about whether to travel in their car to get on a bike instead.

“If we can encourage more people to use their bikes for local journeys then this should also improve the flow of traffic for drivers travelling longer distances.”

The investment in cycling hopes to encourage walking and cycling as an alternative option of transport for short journeys, aligning with the Government’s Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy.

 

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