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Glasgow to build 270km cross-city active travel network

No home in Scotland’s largest city to be more than 400 metres from a segregated cycleway

Glasgow has unveiled plans for a 270km active travel network including improved facilities for cyclists and pedestrians that will cover the whole of Scotland’s largest city and leave no home more than 400 metres from a segregated cycleway.

The proposals, which will open to consultation later this month, aim to bring about a shift in how people will travel around the city – which next month hosts the COP26 summit on climate change – with the long-term goal of reducing its carbon footprint and improve air quality.

> Cyclists and pedestrians face four-week ban from area around Glasgow climate change summit

Glasgow City Council says that “the new network will be designed to ensure easy access to safe, segregated routes from homes, schools, key amenities and cultural destinations throughout the city,” with the aim of active travel becoming the default choice for everyday journeys.

Under the plans, no home in Glasgow will be more than 400 metres from a segregated cycle route, and the council anticipates that once complete, the network will enable cyclist to reach most of the city within half an hour, and almost all destinations inside an hour.

Councillor Anna Richardson, City Convener for Sustainability and Carbon Reduction, said: "Safety is the number one reason for people being discouraged from using active travel and in particular, cycling. 

“The existing network is expanding and the Spaces for People project helped show the appetite for change. By creating a network of cycle lanes and associated footways that reaches into every corner of the city we will maximise the opportunity for active travel to be the first choice for everyday journeys.

“Glasgow's population is continuing to rise with the obvious consequence that more and more journeys are being taken in the city. To avoid increasing traffic levels, congestion, air pollution and road safety issues in future then we must provide alternatives for people to get about the city.

“By having an active travel network easily accessible to every home and school across the city we can start to turn around a situation with half of the vehicle journeys in Glasgow are less than 3km,” she continued. “By reducing our reliance on private vehicles for getting about Glasgow we can begin to reduce the carbon impact of our transport system.

“Encouraging a shift to the most sustainable form of transporting available to us can make a major contribution to Glasgow's effort to tackle climate change,” the councillor added.

Forming part of the council’s active travel strategy, the council says the network also ties in with its Liveable Neighbourhoods Plan, aimed at reducing dependency on cars, and it also aims to groups currently underrepresented within cycling and walking, including older people, those in deprived circumstances, and members of ethnic minorities.

The anticipated cost of the network is £470 million and Glasgow City Council says it is engaging with the Scottish Government regarding funding from the country’s active travel budget, which received a boost in August with the publication of shared policy goals from the SNP and Green Party.

> Huge boost to active travel in Scotland as SNP and Greens pledge to spend nearly £60 per person per year

The parties agreed to “increase the proportion of Transport Scotland’s budget spent on Active Travel initiatives so that by 2024-25 at least £320 million or 10 per cent of the total transport budget will be allocated to active travel.”

In 2023, Glasgow will host what is billed as “the biggest cycling event in history bringing together 13 individual World Championships events for the first time with the world’s top cyclists and para-cyclists competing for the coveted rainbow jersey in disciplines including road cycling, track cycling, mountain bike, BMX Racing, BMX Freestyle, trials and indoor cycling.”

Organisers say that “the championships will also be a catalyst for collaboration and positive change across the country through the ‘Power of the Bike’, inspiring people to ride bikes more often for fun, exercise and to move around.”

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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4 comments

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NPlus1Bikelights | 3 years ago
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Positive news? laugh

 

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chrisonabike | 3 years ago
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> "Under the plans, no home in Glasgow will be more than 400 metres from a segregated cycle route,"

That sounds a significant commitment (are you listening Edinburgh City Council?) but quick correction @roadcc- it actually it says (on the linked page and same figure in the detailed docs):

"...the network is to be created with the aim that schools are within 400m of the main active travel routes while no home is more than 800m from segregated cycling infrastructure..."

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fwhite181 replied to chrisonabike | 3 years ago
3 likes

And given that the majority of journeys that are realistically being targetted for a shift to active travel are only 1-3km long, there's a good chance that most of those journeys won't interact significantly with the network unless it's very carefully designed to very directly connect things like corner shops, parks, schools etc to housing.

But if it encourages more people out of cars in general, I hope it will improve the experience of cycling everywhere.

 

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chrisonabike replied to fwhite181 | 3 years ago
1 like

Glasgow would seem to be a suitable place for this initiative. A "full" city centre but with wide spaces between buildings, travelling across the city on the streets is pretty slow due to grid city plan and lights, a large proportion of people living in rented flats and a skew towards the poverty end of the financial spectrum.

I've only been cycling in Glasgow a few times but it does feel like there's a kind of network in the central few miles.  The quality feels a bit "improvised" / shantytown in places even by to UK standards.  There are lots of signs and they do seem to mean "you can get there" rather than the usual "we put up a sign in lieu of a route".

It's a bit hard for me to assess since Glasgow is an anomoly even in Scotland.

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