No home will be more than half a mile away from a segregated cycle route under new plans approved for Glasgow’s streets.

It was approved to add around 160 miles of “high-quality cycleways and improved footways along main roads in Glasgow” in a new City Network of active travel.

That’s the same distance as Glasgow to Aberdeen.

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The City Network vision is to see active travel become the first choice for everyday journeys.

The council said it will be “designed to ensure easy access to safe, segregated routes from homes, schools, key amenities and cultural destinations throughout the city.”

The plan is for schools to be within 400m (a quarter of a mile) of the main active travel routes while no home is more than 800m (half a mile) from segregated cycling infrastructure.

Glasgow Times:

The network will build on segregated routes already established including the South City Way and West City Way and Garscube Road, connecting Woodside and the city centre Avenues project.

The ultimate aim is to ensure anyone who cycles will be able to reach most of the city within 30 minutes and almost all of the city within an hour.

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 The strategy also emphasises the need for pavements to support walking and wheeling by removing barriers like street clutter but also ensuring infrastructure such as pedestrian crossings and dropped kerbs are in place wherever necessary.

Anna Richardson,  City Convener for Sustainability and Carbon Reduction, said: “This is a huge step forward for active travel in Glasgow.  Active travel must be an integral part of the city’s efforts to reduce transport-related carbon emissions. We now have a very clear way forward to increase the number of people who regard walking, wheeling or cycling as their first choice for everyday journeys.

Glasgow Times:

“Safety is the number one reason for people being discouraged from using active travel and in particular, cycling.  By having an active travel network of safe, segregated infrastructure that is easily accessible to every home and school across the city, we can provide a viable alternative for the millions of car journeys that are less than three kilometres. Reducing our reliance on private vehicles and encouraging a shift to the most sustainable forms of transport can make a major contribution to Glasgow’s effort to tackle climate change.”