Hull signs off on £11m active travel improvements

The city council has approved a raft of grant funding allocations on several key routes to promote and encourage cycling and improve road safety.

Hull has secured £8.757m from Active Travel England’s Active Travel Fund and £2.99m from the Department for Transport’s Safer Roads Fund to boost the programme.

The ATF allocation will deliver two off-road cycle schemes, already approved by cabinet locally, on Freetown Way and Preston Road while the Safer Roads Fund money will go towards road safety improvements on the A165 corridor between its junction with Beverley Road/Ferensway/Spring Bank along Witham and Holderness Road to the boundary of the East Riding.

This project is subject to cabinet approval to proceed to tender and the awarding of contracts for design and construction.

The acceptance of the funding was confirmed on 18 August and enables the three schemes to progress to their next stages, respectively, with the aim of starting on site in 2024 and the works being completed by spring 2025.

Cllr Mark Ieronimo, portfolio holder for transportation, roads and highways, said: “We know from speaking to our residents and through the responses to last year’s Traffic and Travel Survey that improving and enhancing the city’s transport network is an important priority and, after a successful bid, we have secured the funding to deliver on this.

“We also know that our residents want us to provide the facilities needed to support greater choice when it comes to travel options. The plans for Freetown Way, for example, will see the current road layout return to two lanes in each direction, in line with the views expressed in the survey, as well as the installation of new off-road cycle lanes, thereby better accommodating both cyclists and vehicles. There will also be a range of pedestrian improvements.

The councillor concluded: “These schemes not only demonstrate our commitment to providing the facilities needed to encourage more people to choose sustainable modes of travel, like cycling, but they will also enhance the city’s highways and make them safer for the benefit of all members of the travelling public.”