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Highways Agency to invest £20 million in strategic cycling improvements across the UK

£20m sounds a lot... but that's what they spend on 40 miles of motorway per year...

The Highways Agency is to invest £10 million a year for two years in strategic cycling improvements across the UK.

In a video, Matt Sweeting, from the Highways Agency, explains where the £20 million will be spent to upgrade cycling facilities on the UK’s roads over the next two years.

 

The money will help provide access over and under motorways where cyclists are unable to ride.

In the video, Mr Sweeting rides a path near Derby.

He says: “We wanted to solve an existing problem which had to do with there being residential areas and a business areas. A link in between them wasn’t very good so we came up with a scheme that made it easier for cyclists to get to and from work.”

Along with highways engineers, Mr Sweeting has worked to design and create the path, including providing cycle access across a railway bridge.

According to the Highways Agency, the money will provide

new road markings, cycle lane and crossing points
new fly­overs to connect existing national cycle routes
dropped kerbs and vegetation clearance
refreshed and new signage for cyclists and drivers

The Agency is working alongside Sustrans and British Cycling to identify locations where the money can be best spent and the improvements are to be completed by March 2015.

But large as £20 million might sound, the Highways Agency’s total budget for the 4,300 miles of roads it is responsible for (mainly motorways and trunk A-roads) in 2014-15 is £1.9 billion.

That investment is equivalent to £442,000 per mile of motorway per year; a striking contrast to the investment in cycling.

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Man of Lard | 9 years ago
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Highways Agency to invest £20 million in strategic cycling improvements across the UK

Isn't the Highways Agency an "England only" QUANGO (soon to be renamed "Highways England") - if so what remit do they have outside England? (equivalent services in Scotland, NI & Wales being Transport Scotland, NI Roads Service & Department of Economy & Transport)

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JeevesBath | 9 years ago
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Not saying that some more spending on cycling wouldn't be good, but actually, just for the record as a former contractor for the HA your statistics are incorrect. Simply dividing the miles of motorway by the total budget is misleading, as the HA also has to maintain hundreds of bridges and thousands of miles of A road. Then there's the technology (message signs etc), accident clear-up, litter picking... etc etc.

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kie7077 | 9 years ago
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To put things in perspective, 2013-14 budget is £1,700 million, 2014-15 budget is £1,900 million. £10 million is less than 0.6% of that.

From The Times

He said that road designers often had little or no training in how to cater for cyclists. “As a highways engineer myself I spend an awful lot of time designing roundabouts and bridges, actually I didn’t spend a great deal of time at university or subsequently looking at provision for non-motorised users.”

Since £20 million won't actually be enough to build anything much, perhaps the money would be better spent training the 3,400 staff of the Highways Agency and other transport agencies. £20 million could buy a lot of training.

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Das | 9 years ago
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As long as half of it doesn't get wasted in red tape and planning etc it can only be good. Every little helps.

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Airzound | 9 years ago
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Will there be £100 to pay me to cut down the lethal brambles that are currently a major injury risk around and on the side of the guided bus way approaching Cambridge Regional College, Histon and Oakington bus stops. I am sick of getting scratched and jerseys pulled as they stick right out across the path at least 2metres. It's a nightmare, bloody dangerous when it's busy with cyclists and peds going in all directions, all wanting space to avoid them and the thistles, the thistles!! There's going to be a bad accident soon, some one will be seriously injured killed if there is a collision. The bastards at County Hall Cambridgeshire Council are only interested in protecting their revenue stream, only making sure vegetation is kept cut back right adjacent to the bus track as buses mean cash for them £££££££. Cambridgeshire County Council don't give a fuck about the safety of cyclists and peds. The junction at Cambridge Regional College is a death trap. The track must be about 3m narrower owing to all the overgrown vegetation along the sides. Hopeless!

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seven | 9 years ago
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Incoming local rag/Daily Mail articles decrying "gratuitous spending on lycra-clad minorities during times of austerity" in 3... 2... 1...

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Rich71 | 9 years ago
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Peanuts,adding insult to injury,this cretinous amount will just about cover abit of dulux splashed here and there on the fucking road
might aswell put a rope around our necks now
this really is one of the most backward corrupt fucked up countries on Earth
Highways agency my backside

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southdownswolf | 9 years ago
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Flat pedals on a Road bike? Tut!  3

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levermonkey | 9 years ago
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Pitiful!

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Simon E replied to levermonkey | 9 years ago
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levermonkey wrote:

Pitiful!

Yep. A drop in the ocean  2

The main man summarised it perfectly on Thursday:

Quote:

...Still not had anyone explain to me how David Cameron's 'cycling revolution' is going to be realized on £1-2 a head. Next, Leeds!

https://twitter.com/Chris_Boardman/status/484677210423701504

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