9th November 2014
The construction works to provide a safe cycle route from the Inverness Campus at Beechwood to Inverness city centre are now complete.
The completed route forms part of the link from the new Inverness Campus and the recently constructed golden bridge over the A9 in the east, through Raigmore housing estate to Millburn Road, where it continues to the city centre.
Inverness City Leader, Councillor Ian Brown for the Millburn Ward said: "I am delighted that the Millburn Road Active Travel route is now completed. This is a key improvement to Inverness' infrastructure that will encourage cycling and walking which is crucial in helping Inverness meet our aim of becoming a carbon neutral city by 2025."
Work began on the 18 week contract in the middle of July with the work being undertaken by Coffey Construction Ltd, supervised by The Highland Council and designed by WSP UK.
Works included alterations to the carriageway to create pavements that could be used by both cyclists and pedestrians, new road markings, upgrading of crossings providing Toucan Crossings at two locations on Millburn Road and new LED street lighting.
Leader of The Highland Council, Councillor Drew Hendry said: "This Carbon CLEVER initiative is a clear demonstration of how Highland Council is working towards reducing the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases which are being released into the atmosphere. The cycle counter installed in July this year has already clocked up over 12,500 cyclists using the route. I now urge others that drive this route regularly to consider walking or cycling and help to achieve our target of a low carbon Highlands."
In January 2014, Highland Councillors approved £250,000 funding for the Millburn Road Cycle Project from the Council's capital programme for Carbon CLEVER projects. Additional funding for the £733,000 project came from a number of sources including the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), HITRANS, Sustrans HIE and the Inverness Common Good Fund, as well as contributions from developers through planning consents.
Fiona McInally, HITRANS Active Travel Officer, said: "Inverness already has among the highest cycling rates in Scotland and HITRANS are delighted to have been able to support this new link which will make it more attractive for people to cycle from places like Culloden, Smithton and the new University campus into the City Centre."
Ian Thorburn, HIE Senior Development Manager, said: “We are delighted that work has been completed on an important access route for both cyclists and pedestrians to get to and from Inverness Campus and the rest of the city. This is the first of a number of enhanced network of paths that are under consideration and over time, will make it easier for people to make full use of the campus site.”
Paul Downie of Sustrans said: “The counter installed during the summer months has already counted high numbers of cyclists prior to the works on Millburn Road commencing. With the completion of the Millburn Road Active Travel Route we look forward to seeing a further increase in these numbers.
“Cycle counters have been used to great effect in a number of European countries and research shows that they can serve as promotional tools to encourage people to cycle on a daily basis.”