Hot on the heels of today’s cycling event in the city, the council has announced that it will spend £1.4m on improving cycling in the capital.
Initiatives to make Edinburgh a better city for ‘active travel’ will be considered by councillors next week, with an outline of how the council’s transport budget is to be spent on cycling.
An extra dedicated cycling officer will also be appointed to take forward the design and construction of schemes that are already in the pipeline.
A further £460,000 will be spent on routine maintenance of cycle routes and on marketing and promotion. This year the Council has also attracted £425,000 of matching funding for cycle projects from The Scottish Government via Sustrans.
Councillor Jim Orr, vice-convener of the Transport committee, said:- “This programme is evidence of the capital coalition’s commitment to making it easier, safer and more attractive for people to cycle and walk in Edinburgh. It represents a record investment by the Council with 5% of our total transport budget going on cycling, and we believe this is more than any other Scottish authority, in both total and per head spend.
“Encouraging active travel makes sense for environmental, health and traffic reasons, but Edinburgh is also a fantastic city to explore on foot or two wheels. Our investment will make the most of that.”
There will be further spending on promoting walking, with a new post focussed on improving design for pedestrians and upgrading popular routes.
The measures form part of the Council’s Active Travel action plan, which was drawn up in 2010 along with NHS Lothian, walking charity Living Streets, Sustrans and the city’s leading cycling group Spokes, among others.
The Council’s progress will be measured under Scottish and European schemes to promote cycling, as well as annual reports to the Transport committee.
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Good news! A small, old city like Edinburgh should be traffic free with everyone on bikes.
Is the budget allowance to be spent before April? If it is, it allows very little time for the design and construction of schemes that will address the real problem areas like junctions and roundabouts.
I may be pessimistic but I imagine that to spend the money in a restricted timescale will lead to “easy” schemes being done in places where there currently are no problems. This could be an opportunity lost.
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