Coventry Council has just been awarded £3.5 million from the Department of Transport to encourage more cycling in south-west Coventry. There's also a £2.2m local contribution to make a total of £5.7m to be spent over three years.
Commuters, students and local residents are the targets. There's plenty of scope for improvement as the 2001 census showed that half the people working in the area lived within 3 miles of their place of work but 57% of those commuted by car.
The planned means to achieve more cycling are:
- Improved cycle routes (including better signage)
- Better parking
- Speed limit review
- Promotional campaigns aimed at both workplaces and households.
Outline infrastructure improvements
- Tile Hill Lane: Improved access to Coventry Business Park
- Hearsall Common: Extension of the off-road cycle path, including a new toucan crossing. Contraflow cycle link along Canley Road
- Upper Spon Street: Refurbishment of the link to Sovereign Road, including the replacement of the pedestrian crossing on the Butts with a toucan
- Banner Lane: Improved lighting and completion of the off-carriageway cycle path
- Railway line between Tile Hill and Canley Stations: Refurbishment of subways and conversion to shared use
- Canley station: Shared-use access
- Coventry Station: Shared-use path on Eaton Road
- Spencer Park: Upgrading of path
- Charter Avenue and Mitchell Avenue: Shared use path along single-carriageway sections
- Charter Avenue: Cycle lanes along dual carriageway section
- Cannon Park Shopping Centre: cycle paths
- A45 Burnsall Road subway: Refurbishment and conversion to shared use
- Kenilworth Road: Toucan crossings across Gibbet Hill Road and A45
- Gibbet Hill Road: Cycle link between Kenilworth Road and University's Gibbet Hill Campus
- Improved signage
- More cycle parking at retail centres, workplaces and railway stations
- Review of speed limits and traffic signal response times
Promotion
- Two or three Workplace Engagement Officers to liaise with workplaces to nominate Cycle Champions and create site specific packages of measures such as cycle parking, pool bikes, cycle training, Dr. Bike sessions, events and information
- A Residential Engagement Officer to promote cycling to residents using paper maps, the web, printed media, third parties and face-to-face communication at railway stations, local centres and community events
