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Coventry to spend £6.9m creating network of cycle routesCycle lane

Coventry to spend £6.9m creating network of cycle routes

City to revamp existing cycle routes and build new ones in a bid to get more people on bikes
by Tony Farrelly
Thu, Nov 01, 2012 17:57
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Coventry is to spend £6.9m building a network of cycle routes linking up various parts of the city over the next three years.

The announcement of funding for the new routes was made at an event in the city centre on Tuesday which was due to be opened by Olympic silver medal cyclist Lizzie Armisted doing laps of Broadgate in the city centre on her Team GB bike… we'd like to have seen that.

The University of Warwick, Ricoh Arena, and University Hospital Coventry and the Westwood Business Park are some of the places that will be linked to the city centre on the new routes which will also connect to residential areas across the city.

Funding for the scheme is being provided in a joint venture between Coventry City Council and Centro, the local transport authority with the councils putting up £3.5m it secured in Government funding for new cycle lanes through the Local Sustainable Transport Fund with the rest coming as a slice of a successful £33m Centro bid from the LSTF.

The money will be spent over three years and used to create new routes and upgrade existing ones linking and accruing to a report in the CoventryTelegraph the council has pledged to spend £1.19 on green transport for ever pound it receives in funding from the LSTF.

Speaking at the launch of the project Centro chairman and city councillor John McNicholas said: “It’s important that we work hard to make cycling a realistic and viable alternative form of transport. This overhaul of the cycling network will have a major impact for the people of this city.”

Coventry
Tony Farrelly

road.cc's founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony's journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website - the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc - finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ - which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he'd like to own a carbon bike one day.

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Ghedebrav | 12 years ago
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Small steps in the right direction. Coventry is very much geared to the motor car and I suspect this initiative won't make a massive difference. But in tough times for local government, any investment at all in cycling facilities has to be applauded.

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JonoB | 12 years ago
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Canal towpaths!! What a great resource Coventry City Council have. As a boy I used to ride them all (through Bedworth/Coventry/Nuneaton) on my 1972 Raleigh Chopper. A fantastic network. I now live near Edinburgh. The council have recently upgraded a section of the towpath from Ratho to the city centre (tarmac). Now it's a great ride although a little crowded........

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NeilG83 | 12 years ago
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This is long overdue investment. I live in Coventry and it's hard to believe this is the city where the modern bicycle was invented and has been home to hundreds of companies manufacturing bicycles. The city does very little to celebrate the industry or encourage bike use.

The investment is good news, but I live in the South-East of Coventry which seems to have been left out of the plans completely 7

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