Up to 8km of safer cycling lanes will be installed from Hull to Cottingham as part of plans to encourage more active travel in the city.
The improvements form part of plans to enhance cycling links between Hull and the East Riding.
The route will run from the city boundary on Bricknell Avenue, all the way to Bond Street. It follows Victoria Avenue through Pearson Park, and will feature upgraded off-road sections, linking with Waterloo Street and Charles Street towards the city centre.
The majority of the cycle track will be segregated from traffic or traffic-free, making it suitable for new or less experienced cyclists to use.
Councillor Dean Kirk, portfolio holder for transportation, roads and highways at Hull City Council, said: “As work to install safer cycling lanes in Beverley Road continues, we are now starting to work on a secondary route from Hull to the East Riding.
“We understand that we have a substantial travel to work population from the East Riding to Hull, so by providing safer and alternative routes we hope that it will encourage more people to change their habits and adopt a new way of travelling to work.”
The work will include:
- high-quality surface for cyclists, resurfacing existing paths and removing uneven cobbles to provide more comfortable and safer conditions for cycling
- Providing priority for cyclists and pedestrians where the route crosses side roads and conversion of existing traffic calming features to more cycle-friendly designs
- Widening existing cycle paths to better accommodate two-way flows, and providing segregation from pedestrians
- New parallel cycle/pedestrian crossings at key junctions, including Bricknell Avenue, Chanterlands Avenue, Princes Avenue and Fountain Road
- Semi-segregated cycle lanes along Bricknell Avenue, featuring flexible bollards to provide physical separation between cyclists and passing traffic (on-street car parking won’t be affected)
- Low-level signals and priority signals for cyclists at the Station Drive/Beverley Road and Charles Street/Freetown Way junctions; including pedestrian crossing improvements at Beverley Road/Station Drive
- Links to the recent cycling infrastructure implemented on Freetown Way and Beverley Road
- Route signing and new branding, including green surfacing and road markings to highlight the presence of cyclists
The plans for this scheme have been designed so that it will encourage those who have reservations about using busy routes to consider taking up cycling.
The scheme will be carried out by C R Reynolds and work will begin on Monday 20 September, with work starting in Bricknell Avenue.
Hull City Council was awarded £2.2m through a joint bid from the Government’s Getting Building Fund, allocated by HEY LEP as part of the Government’s commitment to the Northern Powerhouse, towards delivering improved cycle links in the region and £500k of this will be used in the East Riding.
As part of the joint bid, a further £0.5m was awarded to East Riding of Yorkshire Council and this is being used to improve cycle links between Cottingham and Hull, and Beverley and Hull.
Councillor Gary McMaster, portfolio holder for planning, infrastructure and housing at East Riding of Yorkshire Council, said: “The proposals to improve cycle links in the East Riding to better connect Cottingham and Beverley to Hull will encourage more people to take up cycling as part of daily routine journeys, such as commuting, by providing safer, more convenient alternative routes for cyclists.”
James Newman, Chair of HEY LEP, said: “We are thrilled work is to begin on this scheme to provide a safe cycling between Hull and Cottingham, which was funded through the Government’s Getting Building Fund. Improving the cycling infrastructure on this popular route for both commuters and those cycling for leisure is essential if we are to enable more people to safely cycle, as this not only can reduce road congestion but importantly improves peoples’ health and wellbeing.”
Hull City Council has also launched the second stage of its ongoing transport survey, and are now asking people to share information on how far they travel, the routes they prefer to use and what would support them to walk and cycle more.
The second phase will also aim to understand how travel habits have changed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The findings will form part of a wider engagement project designed to help plan the future of transport and roads in Hull.
You can take part in the survey here.
