“This is a transport revolution” In conversation with Chris Boardman

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The Spokesmen Cycling Podcast

EPISODE 258: “This is a transport revolution” In conversation with Chris Boardman

Thursday 1st October 2020

SPONSOR: Jenson USA

HOST: Carlton Reid

GUEST: Chris Boardman. Greater Manchester’s walking and cycling commissioner

Below the transcript there’s the full press release from today’s announcement of :

Cycling and walking building boom: 55 miles of new routes and 140 new crossings to be createdacross Greater Manchester by December 2021

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TRANSCRIPT

Carlton Reid 0:13
Welcome to Episode 258 of the spokesmen cycling podcast. This show was engineered Thursday, 1st of October 2020.

David Bernstein 0:24
The Spokesmen cycling roundtable podcast is brought to you by Jenson USA, where you’ll always find a great selection of products at amazing prices with unparalleled customer service. For more information, just go to Jensonusa.com/thespokesmen. Hey everybody, it’s David from the Fredcast cycling podcast at www.Fredcast.com. I’m one of the hosts and producers of the Spokesmen cycling roundtable podcast. For shownotes links and all sorts of other information, please visit our website at www.the-spokesmen.com. And now, here are the spokesmen. there.

Carlton Reid 1:08
Hi I’m Carlton Reid. And on today’s show, I’m talking with Chris Boardman, Greater Manchester’s walking and cycling Commissioner. Now, socially distance by about 175 miles, we discussed a spades-in-the-ground announcement of 55 miles of protected routes for cyclists in Greater Manchester, and 140 new crossings for cyclists and pedestrians. And Chris also talks about his long term plans for national change of culture, getting Brits out of cars. What’s being announced tomorrow? And why is it so special? Because it has not all been, you know, announced before?

Chris Boardman 1:52
Good point. Yes, it has. And I think what’s happened over the last two years has been a huge amount of work to mobilise which isn’t very newsworthy, and people don’t really want to know how you get it done. But we just said, we said in the end of 2017, actually, right, we’re going to do this, and we’re going to do it region wide. And we spend, as you know, about six months putting together a plan in record time, really, the whole re for the whole region that’s added up to over 1800 miles. And and then we’ve had to employ the people get the engineers start to do consultation. So there’s an awful lot involved in in getting ready to deliver. And we’re at last there, and it’s been painful. And but now we know that by the end of next year, we’ll have the first 50 miles in. So it’s the start of delivery. And for me, you know, I it’s my intention that it’s the start of a revolution in the way we travel in Greater Manchester. And in the last six months, we prove just how necessary that is and for how many different reasons it’s necessary. So it’s just to celebrate, and to reconnect people with this project and remind them just how bloody brilliant it’s going to be.

Carlton Reid 3:12
And have you had buy in equally from all the different councils or have some been a bit, you know, more amenable to it and others less. So.

Chris Boardman 3:22
Now we’ve got champions we’ve got I mean, Salford is a prime example of one of the districts that was already on this mission. And they’re going to start delivering early. But we’re seeing reasonable ambition from every every one of them. But I think from the start, I said that one, we’re not going to allocate money equally, we’re going to allocate it to those with the ambition. And if you don’t want to, if you want to do something good, then we’ll fund it. But if you don’t, that’s your choice. And I think it needs to be that way. Really, I think we need to actually prove the point. And I because you want to get to a point where you have a low traffic neighbourhood, and the people next door are complaining because they haven’t got one, and then you’re really off. So leading by example is important. And I think we’ve we’ve got a huge amount of projects to create that healthy competitiveness, I think.

Carlton Reid 4:15
And then you mentioned before about the community involvement, and that is part about that what was Brian Deegan and his crew, and he and his crew go in? And they ask people, you know, where your bottlenecks were, where do you feel you know, that it’s dangerous for you? And then it’s post it notes. And like I said, so how important of an element is that to this going forward?

Chris Boardman 4:37
I think it’s, it’s critical, really, because how people understand what you’re doing and keeping control of what this is about and stopping people hijacking the message is essential. I think as we as we both know, it shouldn’t be but communication is more important than the product because if you allow this to be I painted as this is going to be terrible, it’s going to ruin business, they’re ripping out disabled parking spaces. If you allow that to become the messaging, then people won’t support. But if you say, this is making space, so your kids can ride and walk to school, these crossings are going to actually enable your kids to go out and play with their mates without you. If you actually keep on message and make sure that people understand what it’s for, then you’ll get support. And the best way to do that is not to do it retrospectively. It’s from the start. So you mentioned Brian Deegan, who is part engineer, part activist, he’s got quite a few different hats. But we when we went to councils, the first thing that Brian wanted to do, which, and it was totally his idea I just adopted it immediately was he gave them the pen, figuratively and literally, and said, Tell me where you can’t go with pram? Or you will you wouldn’t want to walk with your kids? And you said you wouldn’t let them ride a bike? Tell me why not? That’s a really busy road, where would you want to get across it and they draw on the map. And so we we let them tell us what they wanted to be able to change the way they travel. And so it is their network. And then we put it out as a draft for everybody in Greater Manchester online and got 4000 comments in a month saying, and then our biggest complaint was Where’s ours? And I think, if anything has come from the project I’ve been involved with for the last three years that it’s Give, give the pen to the people who live there and let them decide. And that includes the right to do nothing. Because they have to choose what it is that they want. But I’m amazed by people how positive people are, once you give them control, not not phone control of Oh, no, we want to have your opinion. But genuinely, if you don’t want to do this, we don’t do it. People respect that, and then take it seriously. And then it becomes theirs, not yours. And that’s essential.

Carlton Reid 6:59
And how much in cash terms and how much in actual things going in on the ground, are walking, and how much I psyched and kind of had you many times before talking about? Because clearly people recognise you from your previous career and your current career, in fact, and they see you clearly as a cyclist. But then you’ve said and you’ve been gone on record say well, actually, it’s the walking elements that are potentially more transformative, potentially, what are more like to do? So is that something that you absolutely stand by? And how much so the elements how much is walking and how much is cycling?

Chris Boardman 7:38
Well, first of all, we try not to separate them, because they should be happy bedfellows these are activities that require space. And and they should coexist, we get just to clarify, though, we don’t we we very, very rarely found anything that shared space. Because once you get a speed difference, it doesn’t work, then the person on a bike becomes the hostile elements. So we respect the hierarchy, that walking is going to be the most convenient and easy solution for most people. So it’s the most important so of the 55 miles that will be in by next year 100. And we’re going to put hundred and 40 new crossings in and we’re looking at the 20,000 cross side road crossings across the region. As you’ll know, we’re spending half a million pounds doing a study to prove that crossings as used around the rest of the world, outside roads on the desire lines help. And they will reinforce a right that people walking have forgotten that they have because to assert that right they have to walk out in front of the car. So understandably, people don’t do it. So no walking is it’s hard to make it visible. It’s hidden in plain sight every day. But it is more important than riding bikes. Having said that, the thing that’s going to get people out of cars is going to be bikes because that replaces your three to five mile journeys, which is two thirds of all the journeys that are made in the country nevermind Greater Manchester.

Carlton Reid 9:10
So Greater Manchester has excellent public transport. So trains, trams, buses. So how much of the work that you’ve done on the Bee network will take, as you’ve said, talked about there really will take passengers away from them from public transport rather than attract motorists get motorists out of cars?

Chris Boardman 9:29
Well, I think you’ll get some of that. And that’s not a bad thing. In general for Greater Manchester view. If you’re getting people to ride and walk rather than be sedentary, then that then you’ve still got a winner. It’s not as big winners, you’re getting people out of a car. But ultimately if you get people travelling actively, you’ve got a net gain. But I suspect that a lot of the journeys will be part journey. So I’m going to ride into Manchester tomorrow with Andy Burnham on his route and it’s an hour and a half journey for him. And that’s not sustainable. On a daily basis, you just can’t do that. But what he might do is right down to the station, jump on the train, pick up the higher bike at the other end, and leave the last mile or so to the office. So that’s how we see it working. That’s the vision that Andy has. It’s, it’s actually this is part of our network. And, and the intention is in a few years time to have an integrated ticketing system for bike hire, for trams, for trains that’s kept. And so you can use any mode, you can mix and match depending on the day, the weather where you going, and it will be kept for the day. And that’s what’s in train at the moment. And this is a part of it. So the point is to give people a choice, an easy choice not to have to drive. And I think we we kind of have to really, there’s no option to keep driving, it just doesn’t work.

Carlton Reid 10:52
So how far you down the line with with the cycle hire scheme? And even agencies appointed?

Chris Boardman 10:57
first phase will be on the ground next early next year. In the spring. It’s been really hard

Carlton Reid 11:03
who’s doing it? Some of you have you announced who’s doing it, who’s there.

Chris Boardman 11:08
Now down to the last three firms. So we’re doing some work in parallel. So we’re out to tender now. And we have contracts have gone out to firms to to actively bid. So we’ve narrowed it right down to a very small number. And and in the meantime, we know where the parking needs to be we know where all the pickup and drop off points. So all the things about the tedious stuff about planning permission and making sure that the space there. All of that’s happening in tandem, so we can speed up delivery. And we’ll do it we’ll do it in a phased approach, because to do a whole city region is obviously Well, it’s massive, it will be geographically bigger than London. So we’re starting with phase one is in the regional centre, so Salford and Manchester. So to get it going there, and then work outwards.

Carlton Reid 11:58
And where does e-scooters fit into this ecosystem?

Chris Boardman 12:03
E-scooters is something I’m very interested in. But I’m keeping it at arm’s length, to be honest, because the studies that I’ve seen show that they get people off bikes, they don’t get them out of cars, and the potential for conflict. If you didn’t, if you haven’t got if we had lots of cycle lanes now, then that’s where they go. But right now the potential for conflict with pedestrians is high. What I do like about them is they’re a travel disrupter. And they’re another client if you like for bike lanes. So that’s a good thing. But I don’t want to get confused because these scooters, they don’t make you fitter. And they’re not necessarily getting somebody out of a car. So they’re not the highest on my list. What I recognise is that good fun, people are really interested in them, that there may be a client to give for bike lanes that gives more emphasis and more reason to build more bike lanes. So I think it’s quite a good thing, but it’s not directly within my remit. It’s a potential future client.

Carlton Reid 13:09
Okay, and do you know the average car ownership or use stats Greater Manchester?

Chris Boardman 13:16
It is for Greater Manchester. It is a third of households don’t have access to cars in Greater Manchester. And that’s considerably higher. I think it’s over half in Manchester itself.

Carlton Reid 13:28
And what are you doing? So you’re doing some good stuff here, encouraging people to get onto bikes to walk more, what are you doing to discourage motoring physically discouraged motoring?

Chris Boardman 13:41
I think most first and foremost is we have to give people an option to an alternative because once you build this is where I’m a pragmatist on that once you build a car centric society, and you let people build their lives around using cars, you can’t just say, Oh, you can’t do that now until you provide an alternative. So cycling and walking is a solution a viable genuine solution, as you know, for about two thirds of all journeys. And then for the rest, trains and trams need to be integrated and become really regular, particularly in the case of trains, the train service has been dire serving Greater Manchester, the lines of the service is bad, and it needs upgrading. So all of those things need to happen. So by making pavements for people, so tackling anti social parking, on pavements, things that you you couldn’t get a double Boogie Down. So you know, you can’t allow that to happen. So we need to reclaim the pavements and by filtering neighbourhoods, so you’re not stopping people driving, but you you can’t run through a neighbourhood. All of these things make other modes of transport more attractive and more competitive. So I wouldn’t say I’m trying to reduce car use directly. It’s might be semantics. I’m trying to make other options much more viable. Much more competitive and making logical and attractive.

Carlton Reid 15:04
And more. Yeah. What’s being announced? Tomorrow? How much of that has been stymied by COVID? And how much has actually been boosted by COVID?

Chris Boardman 15:17
Well, it’s a good point, I mean, 25 miles of the stuff that we intended to put in is pop up routes that are from low low traffic neighbourhoods through to semi permanent. So you know, using bollards and and what they called condemning ones in orcas. So we’re going to accelerate some stuff. And it’s also, I think, given some confidence that we show the people want to do it. You know, people when you I don’t know if you saw any of the features I did for the BBC or ITV over the last month, but we we effectively turned off traffic globally, and inadvertently started at consultation. And so for whatever reason, be it on board, I’ve got bored kids need to get to work and the buses aren’t running at my shift time, all of those reasons, people showed that if you give them safe space, they’ll ride bikes. And I think that should give everybody a huge amount of confidence that this isn’t all they won’t do it in the UK. Well, they did. And there are lots of different reasons they did. And so if you make this space, people have shown you that they will use it. And that confidence, I think counsellors can take it and are taking to accelerate schemes. Manchester itself is, is doing quite a good job now of accelerating schemes that they had on the books, because they also know that this measures are likely to be in place for several months to come yet. And they don’t want to be locked down completely. So they don’t want people cramming together on buses and drains.

Carlton Reid 16:50
So an awful lot of the funding, not all of the funding, in fact, for pop ups nationally has come from the national Tory government. And yet on the ground, it seems that Tory councils aren’t that keen at implementing Tory policies. And it tends to be labour councils that actually want to implement whatever better word and Tory policies, politics, politics play into all of this?

Chris Boardman 17:21
Well, people are scared to change. And I think for me, I have to put myself in somebody else’s shoes and understand where they’re coming from. I don’t have to agree with them. But I know that if a local counsellor might be a locksmith, or work in a shop, and they’re doing this part time, and somebody is having their life changed, so I’m going to take some parking from outside of your shop. And that person is screaming down my ear saying this is a random, you’re going to ruin my business, I’m already scared to death around COVID. And that counsellor has to see this person where they go and buy their bread day in day out. So I understand that I get it that people don’t necessarily. They don’t get into the details and the facts and why it’s good for the bigger picture. They’ve got to deal with people on the ground. And so not everybody will support everything. But the majority do. And as we found from recent surveys for every person that objects, the six that support, and we need to remember that we need to give that silent majority of voice. And I hope the majority of councils will stand up for the majority.

Carlton Reid 18:27
They do seem to a wavering though that there was this this was tested and a lot of it is faded away and they took schemes and in Manchester, even doing some schemes that look quite ambitious. And then we take

Chris Boardman 18:42
Yeah, the A56 was was scaled back. Actually, it was scaled back. It’s still the longest in the country. But it was scaled back at a point where there was a problem. But most of the problems were actually caused by roadworks that were going on slightly further down. So they amended them. And they took seconds out. But of course it hit the presses. It’s all being ripped out. Well, it wasn’t actually it was just amended. But yeah, and it’s not everybody’s going to support it. Because it’s changed. And it’s scary. And that’s where you need political will. And this is really where we need government to actually step back in and remind people that they are committed to this task, because they’ve gone very quiet since May. So they made some groundbreaking statements and said, we have to do this for our country’s health to protect our public transport to stop having the second lockdown to help people who don’t have cars, which we seem to forget about in the short term. And in the longer term, give us all a chance to try something different that we don’t have to commit to. And then if we like it in six months, we can keep it there’s all of these good reasons, but we need government to support it and to keep showing that ongoing support. Because that really helps counsellors when they have to do something that’s disruptive to the status quo, then that’s pretty scary when it looks like government’s gone silent and hang on a minute. I’m going to be left holding the can hear you’re not going to support me to see it all the way through. So some noise from government right now would be very welcome. Hmm.

Carlton Reid 20:09
Because [Andrew] Gilligan has never really put his head above the parapet, but he was clearly behind a lot of the DFT letters. They had the language of Gilligan, through and through.

Chris Boardman 20:21
Yeah. Again, I think it’s very clear that Andrew Gilligan is a trusted adviser to the Prime Minister. And his writing is very clear, in a lot of the communication with councils, the top the directives that have come out on the forcefulness and clarity of it. Absolutely, his writing is clear. But ultimately, he is an advisor. It’s the ministers that need to stand up for this. And it’d be really good to hear the Health Minister standing up for it as well, to actually get all of the people that will benefit from changes. You really want to protect the NHS, then start clapping for bike lanes, not just the NHS staff themselves, because we can take the strain off it just by changing the way we travel.

Carlton Reid 21:05
You were quoted in the press release the other day for the active travel transport. Active travel agency, what the the Laura Laker thing

Chris Boardman 21:21
press guidelines.

Carlton Reid 21:21
press guidelines. Thank you. So you quoted that in that press release. And then the Daily Mail has, I don’t know if they’ve even looked at the press release, but then or even looked at the guidelines. But they’ve come out with a story, which is basically they assuming that this is a war against the motorists, and that the guidelines want to remove things like like rollouts, I’ve got to be banned, and that kind of stuff, which aren’t actually in the gut. So when do you think that part of the media, which represents, you know, a fair chunk of the public? When will they be on board with walking and cycling changes, but I guess, especially cycling changes?

Chris Boardman 22:04
Well, I can’t speak for people I can understand. I think ultimately we need to make sure as just to double back to something I said earlier that the the six people for everyone that support this, we need to make sure that they’re well represented. And we don’t let other people own and twist a message when what Lori Lightfoot and Martin Porter are asking for is guidelines that say how things should be reported, which is federal is just tell fact, right? Just Just give the facts and use language that portrays that reality? Not your personal view. And I don’t think the newspaper that you’ve just mentioned, has ever been constrained by facts. And is any newspaper that cause High Court judges the enemy of the people, you’ve already made a choice by by reading it, so I can’t really talk to it.

Carlton Reid 23:01
And then last question, Chris, and this is almost an impossible one to answer, I think, or maybe you’ve got very strong views on this. But how long is this project going to take? Does this project ever end? What what’s what’s, what’s the timescale?

Chris Boardman 23:16
That’s quite a good question. Actually, the timescale when I started, it was 10 years. And we said, right, we want to put in a network across Greater Manchester in 10 years, and you need a timeframe, because you need a yardstick that says, How are we doing? And right now, it’s 5055 miles is a great number. It’s meaningful, and it’s large. But it’s quite a small part of 1800 miles. But now we can look at that and say, Can we go faster? How do we go faster? Because we’ve got a destination, eight years time, we have something we want to achieve in a years? How How, how much closer to that can we get? I think if you don’t state a time frame, and I don’t like this, kick it down the road by 2050. Because anybody who’s made those decisions will be accountable. By that point. I want meaningful, relatively short term objectives to meet. I think it’s very healthy to do that. I think it’s going to be very challenging. Now to get it done in eight years. There has been some setbacks with COVID. But mostly because it’s taken us a lot longer to get mobilised than we wanted. But now we’re off. And we have to celebrate that as well. So that’s,

Carlton Reid 24:25
Sorry, I’ve got a supplementary question. So that’s, that’s Manchester Greater Manchester. Hopefully, you would then be a catalyst. And London is also a catalyst here for other parts of the UK. So how long will that project take?

Chris Boardman 24:42
Well, that’s up to a government. You know, this is genuinely anything that’s culture change for a nation, then it has to be government led, or what’s the point of government? You might as well just happy little fiefdoms and you all get together for a conference. This is National change. And so government was lead it and they can choose And the announcements they made in May, if they stick by them, if they reinforce them if they back them up with resources. And also with legislation. I mean, it’s been said that if you, if you don’t do this, then this will count against you for all of your transport funding. I mean, that’s proper, strong language. If they continue with that they can make it happen very quickly. The point of me coming to Greater Manchester was to try and create an example on such a scale it was on ignorable nationally. And that’s still the mission, because that’s what we work well with in the UK examples. We want. We want the fear of missing out to be not having a bike lane and an active neighbourhood rather than not having a motorway. And I think we can make that change. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be wasting my time with it. But it’s not going to be easy. And it will depend very much on government. I think the beauty of some of the things that have been done by this government is whatever denomination is in next, no one’s going to want one pick what they do. So and that’s a good thing.

Carlton Reid 26:06
Thanks to Chris Boardman there. And thanks to you for tuning in for today’s episode via whatever podcasting client you use. The next episode will be uploaded to that client for you real soon. But meanwhile, get out there and ride

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PRESS RELEASE

Cycling and walking building boom: 55 miles of new routes and 140 new crossings to be created across Greater Manchester by December 2021

55 miles of protected routes and 140 new crossings for people on foot and bikes will be created next year

The projects that councils across Greater Manchester plan to deliver total around £85 million, creating world class infrastructure and kick-starting the city-region’s plans for the UK’s largest cycling and walking network – The Bee Network

25 miles of pop-up routes and two low-traffic neighbourhoods will also be delivered
Plans heralded as a “huge step” by Mayor and “the start of a transport revolution” by Commissioner Chris Boardman

Greater Manchester will see a major building boom in cycling and walking routes delivered by next Christmas with 55 miles of new routes and 140 new crossings being created, Mayor Andy Burnham and Commissioner Chris Boardman announced today.

Funded by the Mayor’s Challenge Fund, all of Greater Manchester’s 10 districts will begin to benefit from new routes, also known as beeways, with the first Bee Network signage expected to be installed in Summer 2021.

The Mayor and Chris Boardman marked the news with a 90 minute bike ride into Manchester, taking in Wigan’s Muddy Mile, the first Bee Network route, completed in Summer 2019.

Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, said: “It’s been years in the making, but GM’s cycling and walking revolution is finally starting. To build the capability and scheme pipeline to deliver a new way of travel for a whole city region has taken us two years, but we are now ready to begin delivery. By next summer we will begin to see the fruits of our labour and the region’s residents will finally have the chance to travel to shops and schools easily and safely without using a car. Today heralds the real start of our cycling and walking story, coincidently aligning with bike to school week.

“Next year is going to be incredibly exciting with spades going in the ground. This is a huge step towards making Greater Manchester a true cycling and walking city-region. Projects like the Chorlton beeway and Bolton’s new junctions are world-class and they are going to open up cycling and walking as a new option for hundreds of thousands of people. Greater Manchester residents have told us that they want safe space to travel on foot and by bike, so this is exactly what we are delivering.”

Greater Manchester’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, Chris Boardman, said: “We started this mission nearly two years ago and I’m so pleased with the significant work GM’s local authorities have been doing behind the scenes to get this monumental mission underway.

“The Bee Network was a vision, now having completed the planning, paperwork and many consultations, we are ready to start making it a reality. It will create better places to live and work, give those with a car the option to leave it at home and for those who don’t, it will provide them with a reliable, safe and pleasant network to walk or ride to shops, schools and workplaces. This is the beginning of Greater Manchester’s twenty first century transport revolution.”

Around 25 miles of pop-up cycling and walking routes will also be delivered by next Spring, as well as two low-traffic neighbourhoods in Salford and Tameside, using government funds in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Tameside’s pop up active neighbourhood is being launched today.
The news coincides with the publication of an update and forward look report on cycling and walking activities in Greater Manchester which will be officially presented to the Greater Manchester Transport Committee on 9 October.

Completed cycling and walking projects in the last two years include the CYCLOPs junction at Royce Road, the first of its kind in the country, designed by Greater Manchester engineers, as well as Talbot Road in Trafford, Saddle junction in Wigan and Wigan’s Muddy Mile.

The 32 projects that will be delivered across Greater Manchester up to December 2021 are:

GM wide projects
Bee Network crossings – £2.2 million – a series of new and upgraded crossings at locations across Greater Manchester, initial crossings due to be completed during Winter 2020.
GM safety camera digitalisation – £6.1 million
GM Bike Hire – £7.1 million, due to launch in Spring 2021
Bolton
SBNI Manchester Road Gateway – £7m, due to be completed by Winter 2021 – Full junction upgrades to create protected cycle tracks and crossings outside Bolton station on Trinity Street and Bradford Street, and a contra-flow cycle lane on Newport Street.
Bury
Crossing point and junction improvements – £2.2 million – a selection of new and upgraded junctions to improve connectivity and safety for people travelling by foot and bike, expected to be completed by Winter 2021.
Elton beeway – £1.8 million – this scheme will complete a pleasant, direct route from Bury to Radcliffe via the canal towpath and is expected to be completed by Winter 2021.
Manchester
Mancunian Way / Princess Road junction – £3.25 million, due to be completed in Winter 2020 – a full junction upgrade where Mancunian Way meets Princess Road. The existing subways will be removed and protected cycle tracks will be created, as well as pedestrian paths and a signalised crossing.
Manchester to Chorlton beeway (area 2) – £2.2 million – The Upper Chorlton Road section of the Chorlton Cycleway which will create a protected cycle route from Chorlton Park to Manchester city centre. This section completes the cycle link between the Brooks Bar junction and Seymour Grove. The route is due to be completed in Spring 2021.
Manchester to Chorlton beeway (area 3) – £2.2 million, completion date TBC following consultation The Manchester Road to Barlow Moor Road section of the Chorlton Cycleway which will create a protected cycle route from Chorlton Park to Manchester city centre. This section completes the cycle link from Seymour Grove into and through Chorlton district centre with its many bars, shops and cafes.
Manchester to Chorlton beeway (area 4) – £1.8 million – The Barlow Moor Road/Manchester Road section is the most southern part of the Chorlton Cycleway. It connects the Chorlton district centre to the National Cyel Route numbers 6 and 60, the Manchester Cycleway (Fallowfield Loop) and number 62 the Transpenine Trail. The route is due to be completed in Spring 2021.
Beswick active neighbourhood (phase 1) – due to be completed in Summer 2021 – A ‘filtered neighbourhood’ to make roads in the area safer and more pleasant.
Beswick active neighbourhood (phase 2) – £2 million – A ‘filtered neighbourhood’ to make roads in the area safer and more pleasant, subject to consultation.
Route 86: Northern Quarter – Piccadilly to Victoria beeway – £10.5 million – Walking and cycling route through Manchester’s Northern Quarter, connecting Piccadilly and Victoria stations.
Rochdale Canal bridge – £1.3 million, due to be completed in Autumn 2021 – upgrades to the Rochdale canal corridor linking existing and developing communities. This includes improvements to the canal towpaths, improved access under a low bridge at Butler Street and improved accessibility to four sets of steps.
Oldham
Union Street West bridge improvements – £228K due to be completed in early 2021 – The bridge has already been the subject of a partial refurbishment. This project will see the refurbishment completed, providing a replacement bridge deck surface to ensure the best possible level of service for users.
King Street bridge improvements, £452K, due to be completed in early 2021 – Complete refurbishment of an existing pedestrian and cycle bridge, providing a key link into Oldham town centre from a number of residential areas to the south.
Chadderton improvements – £612,000, due to be completed in Autumn 2021 – Updated crossings and walking and cycling routes in Chadderton.
Royton town centre connections – £706,000, due to be completed in Autumn 2021 – Improvements to cycling and walking facilities in and around Royton town centre.
Salford
Swinton Greenway – £4.6 million – This project will deliver a traffic-free, off-road walking and cycling corridor connecting Swinton to Monton, plus lots of other links, connecting communities into the route.
RHS Links – £2.6 million – This scheme will significantly improve the on foot and by bike experience in the area, improving access to the new RHS Bridgewater Garden, Parr Fold Park, Worsley College and Walkden Train Station.
Gore Street connection – £1.1 million, due to be completed in Autumn 2021.
Stockport
Gilbent road crossing – £500K, due to be completed Winter 2020, this scheme provides an enhanced crossing for people travelling by bike and on foot in Cheadle Hulme. It will better connect residential areas, including access to Thorn Grove Primary School.
Offerton to Stockport beeway – £700,000, due to be completed in Autumn 2021 – A continuous cycling and walking route from Offerton to Stockport town centre.
Hazel Grove upgrades – £1.1 million, due to be completed in Autumn 2021 – A number of off-road routes to link communities and encourage walking and cycling.
Ladybrook Valley -£800K, due to be completed Spring 2021 – Scheme to complete a ‘missing link’ of the continuous walking and cycling route through the Ladybrook Valley, connecting previous sections which were delivered by CCAG. The section is around 1.1km long connecting between Ladybridge Road and Bramhall Park Road, with an additional spur to Blenheim Road. The works will provide a surfaced route suitable for cycling, along a route which is currently a grassy footpath.
Heaton Cycle Links – £5 million, due to be completed in 2021 – A package of measures to create a series of quiet routes for pedestrians and cyclists between the Manchester Cycleway (Fallowfield Loop) and the Trans-Pennine Trail at Heaton Mersey.
Cheadle Hulme Crossings Package – £1.2 million, due to be completed in 2021 – The scheme includes three new signal crossings on busy roads in Cheadle Hulme. This will provide access to the wider walking and cycling network and better access to local facilities.
Tameside
Tameside active neighbourhood (phase 1) – Phase one, which is due to be completed in Summer 2021, includes a package of improvements such as creating filtered neighbourhoods where people are prioritised over cars. Upgrades will also be made to traffic free routes and segregated facilities will be provided for bikes on more major roads.
Tameside active neighbourhood (phase 2) – £1.7 million – A package of improvements which will include the creation of more attractive, safer and accessible routes for cyclists.
Trafford
Urmston active neighbourhood – Phase one due to be completed in Autumn 2021, this major active neighbourhood scheme will significantly improve the walking and cycling environment in the Urmston area. Interventions will be community and stakeholder driven and it is expected that they will include segregated cycle routes, new and upgraded crossings, improved signage, parklets, school street treatments and collision reduction measures.
Five junctions on Talbot Road, including the junction with Seymour Grove, due to be completed in Autumn 2021. This project involves upgrading stretches of Talbot Road, enabling a consistent level of service for people travelling by bike or on foot.
Wigan
Standish mineral line – £700,000 – The project will deliver a 1.6 mile long traffic-free path for people travelling on foot or by bike serving new housing developments and providing new connections to link existing cycle schemes to future major segregated routes.
Victoria Street / Warrington Road junction – £1.7 million, due to be completed in Autumn2021 – This scheme extends the innovative Saddle Junction cycle facility, which is under construction, to the southwest with further high quality cycling and walking infrastructure connecting with Alexandra Park.
Leigh town centre to Pennington Park – £800k – the project includes a new bridge across the Bridgewater Canal to connect Leigh town centre at the Loom to new housing development to the south of the canal. There will be a new safe and accessible route to connect from the new bridge to the education, leisure and retail facilities at Leigh Sports Village and beyond to Pennington Flash.