New grant funding will support active travel around Glasgow

Glasgow City Council is to invest £3 million on cycling, walking and road safety projects across the city, it was announced today (Wednesday, 22 June 2016).

The funding comes just three months after the council announced a £6m investment to make Glasgow the cycling capital of Scotland.

Infrastructure improvements will see money being spent on expanding and enhancing the city's cycling network, increased provision of safe cycle routes, providing more secure cycle parking facilities, enhancement of the city's bus infrastructure and a number of road safety schemes including traffic calming and minor road improvement aimed at accident reduction.

Bailie Elaine McDougall, Executive Member for Transport, Environment and Sustainability, said: "The council has already committed to invest £6m on cycling and cycling infrastructure over the next three years to make Glasgow the most cycle-friendly city in Scotland.

"We've also been making real progress in promoting active and sustainable travel choices like cycling or walking. But we have to insure that our citizens can do so conveniently and safely.

"This new injection of cash will take the total investment to £9m. It will help Glasgow to improve our cycling and walking infrastructure even further as well as making it safer on city streets by introducing speed reduction and traffic calming schemes.

"We want more people to leave the car behind especially when they make short trips or are commuting to school or work. We know how important active travel is in terms of improving Glaswegians health and well-being but also helping to reduce our carbon footprint."

The money is being made available to the council via four grants from Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (£1,010,000), Sustrans Scotland (£750,000), Paths for All (£550,944) and Transport Scotland's Walking Safer Streets fund (£657,000).

A report on the investment was approved by Glasgow City Council's Executive Committee today (Wednesday 22 June 2016).

The improvement projects will make it much easier for everyone to be more active and move around the city safely.

The cycling projects being taken forward include the provision of further public cycle parking facilities and improved cycle route signage.

Other infrastructure improvements include a redesign of the Clyde Street and Stockwell Street junction to make it safer for cyclists and an extension of the cycle facilities on Wallacewell Road in the north east of the city. Further 20mph zones will also be introduced which will contribute to a safer cycling environment.

The bus related projects include enhancements to bus stops at a range of sites in Drumchapel, Knightswood, Maryhill and several areas in the north east of the Glasgow. This includes the provision of high access kerbs to assist the mobility impaired and people with prams to get on vehicles. The location and number of bus stops will also be reviewed and a number of shelters will be upgraded to increase capacity at busy locations.

Glasgow Cycling

In March, the council announced it was investing £6m to enhance the city's cycling infrastructure, increase the provision of safe cycle routes segregated from traffic as well as improving road safety, introduce traffic calming schemes, and develop further safer cycle and walking routes.

In the last five years, the council has spent more than £13million on cycling-related initiatives and has installed cycle parking for more than 1000 bikes at locations across the city and continues to install more than 100 spaces every year.

And since 2010, considerable achievements have been made with regards to cycling in the city:

• The number of cycling facilities has grown considerably - from 230km to 310km of cycle network, the opening of the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome at Emirates   Arena, and the creation of Cathkin Braes Mountain Bike Trails.
• The number of people cycling has increased 200% since 2007.
• Construction of the Connect2 route between the west end and the city centre and the South West City Way - a new segregated cycle route connecting the south side to the city centre.