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£1m cycle route to link Nuneaton and CoventryB4113 (via StreetView)

£1m cycle route to link Nuneaton and Coventry

County council likely to pay for cycleway itself after failed bid for funding
by Alex Bowden
Sat, Nov 09, 2019 15:13
7

£1m will be spent on a new 4km cycle route linking Nuneaton, Bedworth and Coventry, reports the Coventry Telegraph. Last year, an application for £900,000 from Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership (CWLEP) for the project failed, but Warwickshire County Council is now set to invest the full £1.012 million itself.

A county council cabinet report states: "The area currently has no continuous direct cycling link between Nuneaton and Coventry, recognised as one of the main barriers to cycling for most people.

"This project is recognised by Warwickshire County Council as a key cycle scheme to deliver local transport policies, Strategic Economic Policy objectives and the government’s ambition to double the current levels of cycling by 2025."

The route would primarily run along the B4113. An initial report said the project would improve connectivity between Nuneaton, Bedworth and Coventry and “provide an attractive alternative to car based travel within a congested highway corridor.”

The route is projected to attract 493 cyclists a day.

The council also has plans to spend £438,000 creating around 1.4km of segregated track from Nuneaton to Hinckley along the A47 Long Shoot.

"The high volumes of traffic on the A47 / Long Shoot, which is the principal arterial route into Nuneaton from the A5, prevents cycling being a viable choice for local journeys," says the report.

The county council's cabinet will decide whether to approve the funding for the two schemes on Thursday, November 14.

Nuneaton
Coventry
warwickshire
Warwickshire County Council
Alex Bowden

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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7 comments

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Philh68 | 5 years ago
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For a separated new path construction, that cost sounds about what I’d expect. By way of comparison the cost to build a 2.5m wide shared path on the existing Brisbane Valley rail trail here in Australia was $7 million for 17.4km, $411k per km which is roughly £220k per km. The cost goes up in urban environs quite considerably. For reference the average road construction cost here is $5.1M per lane km, a segregated cycleway for a tenth of that is reasonable. So long as that’s what you’re getting.

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bertisfantastic | 5 years ago
0 likes

You'd hope not for £250k per km but it wouldn't surprise me

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Bob's Bikes | 5 years ago
2 likes

OK OK I am a cycnical old sod! But is this just going to be a shared use path (making it easier for the peds to join the rabid anti cycling brigade) and/or a dashed line of paint down the side of the road or a proper segregated safe piece of cycling infrastructure?

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AllegedlyAnthony | 5 years ago
0 likes

493 cyclists per day? These projections are getting really precise...

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alchemilla | 5 years ago
3 likes

Every local authority in the country needs to be doing this along all their major routes in and out of towns to meet their targets to increase cycling.  I love the prediction of exactly 493 cyclists!  Great for Nuneaton, Bedworth and Coventry.  Now for the rest of us.......

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TeresaDay | 5 years ago
1 like

Are you sure it's a 4km route? Damned expensive if it is.

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growingvegtables replied to TeresaDay | 5 years ago
0 likes

TeresaDay wrote:

Are you sure it's a 4km route? Damned expensive if it is.

 

Depends what you're getting?  

- For a bit of paint on the road, plus "shared-use-facilities" at "difficult" bits ... it's grotesque.

- For a bit of high-quality infrastructure?  With three different levels (for pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists); segregation; junction reconstruction/realignment?  That is probably ... astonishingly cheap.

 

Lord forgive me for being cynical ... but I've got a can of white paint I can sell 'em.  "Good" price wink.

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