Manchester unveils plans for major cycling route

A new £13.4m cycling route has been proposed which would link Manchester city centre with Chorlton.

The 5k route has been designed in partnership by Transport for Greater Manchester’s walking and cycling team and Manchester City Council engineers, who this year won the National Transport Award for Excellence in Cycling and Walking for their work on the Wilmslow Road / Oxford Road corridor.

Greater Manchester’s cycling and walking commissioner Chris Boardman also helped to design the route which has been influenced by European cities with an established cycling culture such as Amsterdam.

The Chorlton route will feature Dutch-style segregated cycling and walking lanes and some of the most advanced junctions in the UK. It will run along Barlow Moor Road, Manchester Road, Upper Chorlton Road and Chorlton Road.

The funding would come from Greater Manchester Mayor’s Challenge Fund and the government’s Cycle Cities Ambition Grant.

Manchester City Council’s executive member for the environment, planning and transport, Angeliki Stogia, said: ‘We are excited to have Chris Boardman’s input on creating world-class walking and cycling infrastructure in Manchester.

‘Lots of people have said that they want to walk and cycle more in Manchester and we present this scheme for consultation, as part of our ambition and absolute determination to create a new network of high-quality, safe cycling routes across the city.

‘We would like as many people as possible to have their say on the plans.’

Chris Boardman, added: ‘We want to make cycling and walking the natural choice for short journeys, giving people the freedom not to have to drive. That means creating world-class streets where people want to socialise and relax. Some of the junction designs proposed are the most advanced yet that we’ve seen in the UK.

‘Manchester City Council and Trafford Council deserve full credit for coming up with such an ambitious and appealing cycling and walking route.’

A public consultation period on the designs will run until 11 January 2019. Four public events will take place in Chorlton and Stretford during November and December.

To find out more, go to www.manchester.gov.uk/consultations.