Liverpool receives £11m active travel boost

Work is expected to start next summer to make a trio of pop-up cycle lanes across the city permanent, following the receipt of government funding.

Liverpool City Council is set to accept an £11m grant from Active Travel England at its cabinet meeting next Tuesday to support the creation of three cycle lanes. These lanes will stretch from Vauxhall Road, West Derby Road, and Sefton Park towards the city centre.

The city council has secured £1m funding for a cycle route starting at Vauxhall Road, crossing through Commercial Road and Stanley Road. Funding will see upgrades to the junctions across this corridor, while the existing pop-up cycle lanes between Tithebarn Street and Boundary Street will become permanent.

A total of £5m has also been allocated to support the delivery of a permanent cycle route between Low Hill and Tuebrook Roundabout, from Farnworth Street to Muirhead Avenue, to replace the existing pop-up West Derby Road scheme.

Funding of £3.5m will enable the Aigburth Drive Gate and Croxteth Gate junctions to be upgraded to provide another permanent cycle route between Sefton Park and Princes Avenue, passing through Kingsley Road, Crown Street, and Towerlands Street.

The existing cycle lane at the Princes Avenue roundabout in Toxteth will also receive £2m funding to become a cycle-friendly junction with links to the proposed Sefton Park corridor.

All four schemes will include footpath upgrades, new crossing facilities, and street lighting improvements.

Cllr Dan Barrington, cabinet member for transport and connectivity, said: “This funding from Active Travel England is going to make a huge difference to people wanting to seek healthier ways to travel in and around Liverpool.

“The pop-up cycle lanes were right to be introduced in principal as Covid-19 created huge transport issues when lockdown began, but the fact is the council did not have the funding to maintain them as temporary measures”, he continued.

“The work that has since gone into designing permanent corridors has taken quite a bit of time, but that means we’ve been able to talk and listen to the communities and those who cycle to understand what the problems were with the temporary measures.”

Simon O’Brien, walking and cycling commissioner for Liverpool City Region, said: “It is fantastic to see this new funding being unlocked, to really help us push forward with our plans to help create a network of walking and cycling routes that befits the city.

“We’ve got some great active travel infrastructure, but we need to make sure it’s properly linked up so people feel confident that they can travel easily and safely by bike or on foot – that’s what this new funding will help to do”, he continued.

“The kind of schemes that will be delivered by this money gives us an amazing opportunity to help change the way we think about travelling around our local area.”

Elsewhere across the city, Liverpool City Council is currently holding a consultation on its plans to create an 8km cycle lane, connecting Childwall to the Lime Street corridor and the city’s waterfront.

It doesn’t end there for the city council’s active travel programme this month. A year-long scheme to improve 30 access points across the Liverpool Loop Line is set to complete, while a new cycle training facility at Everton Park will open in August.