The new cycleways are planned to be installed by the autumn to provide safer, mostly-segregated routes to enable people to travel by bike on some of Cardiff’s busiest roads.
The two routes – the ‘Cross City ‘and ‘Bay Loop’ cycleways – are being brought forward as part of the Council’s ongoing COVID Recovery plans and are in line with the cycling vision set out in the Council’s Transport White Paper.
Cllr Caro Wild, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport said: “Traffic on our roads has reduced dramatically now that a number of businesses and organisations are opting to let their staff remain working from home.
“Current traffic levels are at 66% of pre-lockdown numbers, with the traffic flow in the city centre lower still at 50%. While the traffic levels have reduced, the use of the nextbike scheme has increased significantly during lockdown, with over 14,000 new customers, which clocked up an impressive 114,383 rentals from March to June.
“With public transport providers running at reduced capacity lots of people are now choosing to walk and cycle in Cardiff. This is great news, great for people’s health and great for the environment. We want to ensure that anyone who is able to cycle can do so in a safer and more attractive way.
“We know there are people new to cycling, including very young people, and we have to do everything in our power to ensure these people are as safe as possible.”
Running west to east, the ‘Cross City’ route will be installed on Leckwith Road and Wellington Street, joining up to the existing cycleway on Castle Street. The route will then continue along Boulevard de Nantes, onto Dumfries Place, along Newport Road to the junction with Broadway.
The second pop up cycleway, the ‘Bay Loop’ will be installed from the Magic Roundabout, down East Tyndall Street, onto Tyndall Street, joining a new cycleway running both down and back up Lloyd George Avenue, joining Callaghan Square and ending on Penarth Road.
These new routes will also link to new park & pedal sites being set up at Cardiff City stadium and Cardiff Bay allowing people travelling from further afield the option to park their car and walk or cycle the remainder of their journey.
The schemes will use semi-permanent ‘bolt-down’ kerbs with small plastic upright bollards which are attached to the road. If successful they can be kept or replaced with more permanent solutions. They can be altered if necessary.
Both of these schemes are currently out to tender and following engagement with the public will be installed in September.
