Permanent city centre cycle route plans updated

The authority is also pushing ahead with other cycle route plans across the city

Major proposals for a Birmingham cycle route that runs from the city centre to a key A-road have taken a step forward.

The city council installed temporary pop-up cycle lanes across the city during the Covid pandemic in a bid to help people travel "safely and actively".

In November 2021, the local authority consulted on making the route, from the city centre to the A457 Dudley Road, permanent.

It has now launched a public consultation on the modified designs, with the project being funded by Department for Transport.

"Since the 2021 consultation, the designs have been modified to address feedback and improve the route and cycling infrastructure," the council said recently.

"We have also improved the signalised junction, including crossings at the A4540 Icknield Street."

The authority is also pushing ahead with other cycle route plans across the city as it looks to reduce carbon emissions and reconnect communities by "prioritising people over cars".

It has ambitions of creating a city-wide cycle network and said earlier this year that transforming Birmingham's transport was "fundamental to meeting the challenges of the next decade and beyond".

"Economic, population and housing growth will create additional demand for travel, which cannot be accommodated via ongoing car dependence," the council wrote.

It added tackling the climate emergency "cannot be achieved without a wholesale shift towards public transport and active modes".

All cycle lanes on the route will be separated from general traffic and people walking or wheeling, using a combination of lines marked on the ground, level differences, where lanes are higher or lower with a kerb in between, and lane separator units.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, which covers councils and other public service organisations.