Glasgow's Climate Week 2025 highlights city's sustainable transport projects

Work on a City Network of active travel routes is currently underway across Glasgow, with several phases of construction now complete as the city aims to add 270km of safe, segregated cycle ways to existing routes.

The final phase of the South City Way which links Queens Park with the city centre was completed last year, whilst the first leg of Connecting Battlefield which connects with the South City Way and the New Victoria Hospital is also now finished, having introduced fully segregated cycle lanes as well as widened footways and improved street lighting.

The City Deal backed infrastructure programme for Byres Road, which runs between Partick Cross and University Avenue, has in its first phase of work delivered upgraded and more accessible footways as well as protected cycling infrastructure, with remaining works due for completion imminently.

Work to create a people-friendly junction at Charing Cross and link the cycle lane on Sauchiehall Street with St George's Road was delivered last year as part of our Connecting Woodside active travel project. And in March, construction started on the project's next stage - a new active travel corridor on St George's Road that directly connects Sauchiehall Street at Charing Cross with Garscube Road in north Glasgow. This latest phase will also see delivery of enhanced pedestrian crossings, improved footways, greening and drainage improvements, as well as upgraded streetlighting.

The North-East Active Travel Route (NEATR), which incorporates cycle ways, bus infrastructure upgrades and improvements to footways in Barmulloch and Balornock, is now substantially finished, with remaining first phase work to be completed later this year. Meantime, work to create new infrastructure in the Blackhill and Provanhill areas of the city as part of the Flourishing Molendinar project is due to break ground in the coming months.

In the city centre, the City Deal funded Holland Street Avenue is nearing completion - with work to upgrade traffic signal equipment expected to be completed shortly.  The Cambridge Street Avenue is now substantially complete, with segregated cycling infrastructure now in place, with final works to be finished in the Spring.  Construction of the Argyle Street West Avenue between the Kingston Bridge and Union Street which will deliver segregated cycling infrastructure, upgraded footways and raingardens, is also well underway and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Work to deliver a redesigned George V Bridge and its north and south junctions is well underway and is due for completion in June. This key redevelopment will see new pedestrian crossings and segregated cycle facilities, with the Broomielaw junction upgraded to a full cycle-friendly junction with separate timing for cycle uses.

This year will also see construction starting on the first phase of Connecting Yorkhill and Kelvingrove which will deliver improved public space on Radnor Street, Haugh Road, Yorkhill Street and Sandyford Street. The second stage of the Byres Road redevelopment is also due to break ground later this year while the Spaces for People route on Dumbreck Road which connects Pollok Park with Bellahouston Park will be upgraded and the route extended to link with the South West City Way existing active travel infrastructure on St Andrew's Drive.

Additionally, several Avenues and Avenues Plus schemes which will deliver high-quality walking and cycling links in and around the city centre have either begun construction this year or are due to start soon.

A significant amount of design work will also be progressed this year, and it is hoped that many of these pipeline projects can move to construction in the near future. This includes future phases of Connecting Battlefield, the East City Way, and Connecting Yorkhill and Kelvingrove.  Route designs are also developed or are in development for Connecting Greater Govan, Inner North and South, West Nile Street Active Travel Route and the NCN7 cycle network linking Smith Street in Whiteinch with the Riverside Museum.

All of these projects which rebalance road space, will help to ensure that more and more places in our city are accessible by safer, segregated infrastructure, supporting our aim that active and sustainable travel options are an attractive, viable choice for everyday journeys.

There are also a variety of complementary measures in place that encourage travelling sustainably, including the significant expansion of Glasgow's on-street cycle storage scheme, more people-friendly crossings and junctions, and the addition of specialised vehicles to our fleet for more effective, year-round maintenance of active travel routes.

More details:

Details of many of the sutainable transport projects being progressed by the council can be found by clicking on this link.

The Avenues Programme is funded by the Glasgow City Region City Deal, which includes contributions from both the Scottish and UK Governments. The overall City Deal funding package for the programme is £123.4m. An additional £20m funding from Sustrans was also obtained for some of the Avenues projects.