FURTHER improvements are planned for two busy Leicester roads, as part of a government-backed programme of investment in sustainable transport across the city.
Leicester City Council is planning to invest about £2million to improve routes on parts of Aylestone Road and Welford Road and help encourage more people to make the shift to walking, cycling and public transport.
The proposed scheme will be paid for through the Transforming Cities Fund following the city council’s recent successful bid for £32million of second tranche funding to support improvements to local public transport and create more cycling and walking routes into city neighbourhoods and the city centre.
The new scheme has been designed to create a safer and more attractive route for pedestrians and cyclists along part of Aylestone Road, from Putney Road to Welford Road, close to the home of Leicester Tigers, where it will link with existing cycleways.
Pavements between Putney Road and Almond Road will be widened to up to three metres to create an improved cycleway and footpath.
The proposals will involve making permanent a pop-up cycle lane which currently runs along the stretch of Aylestone Road between its junctions with Almond Road and Welford Road, close to the Leicester Tigers stadium.
This was the first of Leicester’s original pop-up ‘keyworker corridors’ introduced during the first lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic, almost two years ago. Since then, the temporary cycle lane has not been found to have had any significant adverse impact on traffic.
A new raised off-road cycle track will be created in place of the temporary coned-off route, and the number of lanes for general traffic will be permanently reduced to three along this stretch of road.
Improvements will also be made to the junction of Almond Road and Aylestone Road to create a safer and more direct crossing for cyclists and pedestrians.
An additional stretch of new cycleway is also proposed for part of Welford Road, from the Tigers Stadium to Lancaster Walk, running alongside Nelson Mandela Park.
Once complete, the new cycleway will link directly to safe cycling routes created on Welford Road and Lancaster Road, as well as routes currently under construction on Putney Road and Saffron Lane.
Roads will also be raised at key crossing points, and new and improved signals will be installed, to provide a safer route for pedestrians and cyclists.
Letters outlining the proposals have been delivered to about 500 homes and business in the nearby area.
Work is expected to begin in Spring 2022 and will take around nine months to complete.
Deputy Cllr Adam Clarke, who leads on environment and transportation, said: “These plans represent another important expansion of the city’s growing network of safe and attractive routes for cyclists and pedestrians and will allow us to further extend the multi-million-pound investment we have made in and around the city centre, out into the Leicester’s busy neighbourhoods.
“Aylestone Road was one of the first routes to be identified and used as a pop-up ‘keyworker corridor’ to provide safe commuting routes for people during the first lockdown almost two years ago. It’s been a popular route for pedestrians and cyclists ever since.
“It is vital that we continue to provide healthier, greener streets to accommodate the future growth of the city and its economy, all of which supports our commitments to address the climate emergency and to reduce air pollution. We need to be radical and ambitious to meet these challenges.”
The Transforming Cities Fund is a major £80million citywide programme of investment in sustainable transport, backed by £40million of Government cash from the Department for Transport. The ambitious package of works will focus on major sustainable transport improvements to provide attractive choices for people to get to work, education, shops and other local facilities to help support the city’s growth and deliver on the council’s climate emergency, air quality and health living commitments.
The programme includes the development of new bus priority corridors linking the city centre to local neighbourhoods and suburbs along with the continued development of a network of high-quality cycling and walking routes throughout the city, building on the success of the Connecting Leicester programme.
It has also seen the introduction of electric buses onto the Park and Ride service and a new citywide electric bike hire scheme in partnership with Santander.
To view the plans for Aylestone Road in more detail visit: www.leicester.gov.uk/TransformingCitiesFund