The Scottish government has announced it will support a number of active travel projects, boosting walking and cycling facilities across Scotland.
In accordance with the government’s policies on sustainability and climate change, the projects – to be funded and overseen by Transport Scotland and walking and cycling charity Sustrans Scotland, through their Places for Everyone programme – will facilitate and encourage active travel options by upgrading infrastructure and public spaces, building new walking and cycling routes; and improve the safety of pedestrians and cyclists. By improving the range and condition of active travel routes, as well as ensuring walking and cycling are available as a safe, convenient travel option, the projects’ operators hope to increase uptake of healthy, sustainable methods of travel.
The Places for Everyone initiative has already approved funding for a number of Scotland active travel projects, including:
- The ‘Accessible Ayr’ project, which aims to regenerate Ayr town centre to improve access for residents with reduced mobility, as well as integrating walking and cycling routes;
- A ‘green infrastructure’ project in the Maidencraig region of Aberdeen, which will upgrade new walking and cycling paths and build new active travel links around a newly designated wetland green space; and
- The North City Way project in Glasgow, building a segregated, car-free cycle route into the city centre, with a new bridge for pedestrians and cyclists planned for construction over the M8 motorway.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “On climate change Scotland is leading globally – but we must support local action too. We are investing over £500m [€575.56m] in new bus priority infrastructure, to make journeys faster, greener and more convenient. We want people to walk and cycle more too, reducing our carbon footprint and improving our health – so I can announce today new investment for local projects the length and breadth of our nation. From Ayr to Aberdeen, a fund of £27m [€31.08m] will support more than 200 schemes to make it easier for people to cycle and to walk. That is acting locally as we lead globally in making our contribution to tackling the climate emergency.”
