Leeds City Council is to discuss plans to invest £6.5 million in the CityConnect Cycle Superhighway.

Proposals for the 23km cycle superhighway includes adding an additional 10km of segregated cycle lanes, 'CityConnect 2', from the city centre to Elland Road and on to south Leeds and Morley.

In addition, further sections would be added to create a complete 'loop' around the city centre, while another segregated superhighway would be built from the city centre south-east to access South Bank.

Other features include improvements to pedestrian crossing facilities and enhanced public spaces, as well as junction designs to accommodate cyclists, segregated cycle crossings, cycleway bypassing of bus stops, cycling priority on side roads and clear signage.


Cllr Richard Lewis said: "These plans form part of our long-term transport strategy to make it easier to get around the city. We know that there is no quick-win but it is important we invest now in order to encourage safe cycling and walking and the wide range of benefits these would bring, including reducing congestion and ultimately improving air quality across the city, now and in the future.

"CityConnect2 along with other improvements to the city’s cycling infrastructure will help address many of the concerns raised during the recent transport conversation, which attracted over 8000 replies, which highlighted that many people would like to cycle more, but felt that the biggest barrier is a lack of good infrastructure.

"A lot has been learned from the issues which arose during the construction of the first part of the cycle superhighway which will help guide the next phases as the project continues to develop."

Cllrs will discuss plans for the next stage of CityConnect on Wednesday, 08 February.

(LM)