Glasgow to permanently improve active travel infrastructure

Glasgow City Council has announced that measures introduced to encourage active travel during the pandemic will now be made permanent.

Introduced at the start lockdown, the Spaces for People measures delivered a significant number of temporary travel interventions across the city in a bid to help ease physical distancing and encourage active travel.

This was done predominantly through the widening of pavements, road closures and by introducing segregated cycle lanes. 

Following the success of these measures in increasing the viability and appeal of walking and cycling for everyday journeys, the council commissioned an independent review to look at the viability of retaining these measures going forward. 

Key report recommendations that will now be taken forward include:

• The permanent retention of all Spaces for People segregated cycle lanes which offer around 40km of additional dedicated cycling space
• To keep footway widening measures and urban greening around George Square and Merchant City, as well as infrastructure that supports physical distancing around city centre transport hubs and bus stops
• That the ‘People Friendly Streets’ measures at Dennistoun, Shawlands and Pollokshields East should be made permanent
• The removal of all footway widening measures within city neighbourhoods, except for the road closure and associated infrastructure on Kelvin Way

Cllr Anna Richardson, city convener for Sustainability and Carbon Reduction said: ‘I am absolutely delighted that further to the independent review, the majority of Spaces for People measures will now go on to become permanent infrastructure, encouraging even greater numbers of us to walk, wheel and cycle as a means of getting around.

‘These schemes were introduced at pace and at the height of the pandemic to support physical distancing however it’s clear that they have proved popular and if made permanent can offer longer-term strategic benefits to our transport network as well as being advantageous to our health and wellbeing, and to the environment.

‘I look forward to seeing progress in the coming months to advance these measures to permanency.’

Photo by Ross Sneddon