The most exciting part of Nottingham City Council’s proposed £6.1m Cycle City improvements is being planned and residents and businesses along the route will be the first to have their say.
The Western Corridor is a new cycle route that will run from Colwick in the east to University Boulevard and beyond in the west. In some parts the work will be refurbishing existing cycle routes, with better surfaces and other improvements to make them safer for cyclists. From Castle Boulevard through Abbey Bridge to Dunkirk, a new cycle superhighway will be created, offering a speedy, direct and segregated cycle route. It will feature the very highest design standards and is an integral part of the proposals to increase Nottingham’s cycling take-up even further.
Councillor Nick McDonald, Portfolio Holder for Jobs, Growth and Transport at Nottingham City Council, said: “The Cycle City plans are really exciting and will improve cycling facilities for commuters, families and leisure cyclists and are part of our vision for a green, healthy city in which people have positive choices about how they travel around. The Western Corridor is the centrepiece of the proposals; improving access to and through the city centre, making it more likely that bikes will be chosen ahead of cars to complete short cross-city journeys.
“The availability of our Citycard Cycles means that cycling will be the easier option, even for those who don’t have a bike. In the last five years the number of cycle journeys being made in Nottingham has increased by 31%. Our cycling ambition is to make cycling people’s preferred mode of transport.”
Consultation for the Western Corridor begins on Monday August 10th with details of the route being delivered to residents and businesses along the first phase of the development – city to University Boulevard.
The City Council is also planning to reach others who are most likely to benefit from or be interested in the development through the Mobile Travel Centre ‘Infobus’. The bus will run from the 17th August until the 21st August at various locations across the Western Corridor (details of which can be found on the website).
As part of the consultation process an online interactive consultation map has been developed which allows residents, cyclists, drivers and other interested parties to register their comments at a specific point along the proposed cycle route.
Details of the route, the consultation bus route and the online consultation map can be found on transport2.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/cycle
Nottingham City Council has secured £6.1 million from the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) process to invest in and kickstart an overhaul of Nottingham’s cycle facilities. The funding is for two years through to March 2017 and will be delivered in collaboration with a number of partner organisations.