Greater Manchester Combined Authority has approved a £20.7m package to 'address barriers to active travel' including infrastructure upgrades and maintenance.
Schemes backed by this latest funding include:
- Active travel infrastructure - £8.6m for improved or replaced surfacing for walking, wheeling and cycling, new crossings and upgraded junctions, bus stops and traffic management.
- School Streets - £2m towards maintenance on highways near to schools, such as dropped kerbs, improvement of pavements and footpaths and traffic management.
- Bee Network crossings - £2m for new or upgraded traffic signal junctions near schools.
- Cycle hire - £1.5m towards new e-bikes and the extension of the existing Starling Bank Bike hire contract to 2028.
- Community-led schemes – £1.7m for schemes that help people make the switch to active travel, including bike libraries, walk to school and learn to ride schemes.
- Bee Network scheme development – £2.2m for new local authority-led active travel schemes.
- Remedial works – £1.1m for the maintenance and renewal of existing active travel schemes.
The authority also approved an additional £500,000 for new route signage and secure cycle parking.
When approached by Highways, Transport for Greater Manchester stated that this latest wave of active travel funding was provided by the fourth and fifth Active Travel Fund, as well as the Consolidated Active Travel Fund - both grants administered by the central government agency Active Travel England.
Active travel commissioner, Dame Sarah Storey, said: ‘Last year's Active Travel Annual report identified a number of areas that needed significant investment in order to address some of the barriers affecting people from feeling safe enough to walk, wheel or cycle their everyday short journeys.
‘The allocation of funding in this latest approval is very welcome to enable more pavements, cycle routes and crossings to be upgraded, as well as to further develop other parts of the programme across the region for the coming years.’
