Work continues on the new £500,000 cycle improvement scheme that will provide a continuous off-road route, connecting the city centre with the Wyvern, the new footbridge over the A52 and Pride Park.
Phase one will see the development of a new cycle path located on the grass verge between Chequers Road and the A52. The new path will adjoin the existing pedestrian cycle path at Pentagon Island and the existing cycle path adjacent to the Costco Store.
In order to accommodate the new cycle path, construction and alterations to the approach ramp leading to the Highfield Road footbridge are required to be carried out, and in order to do this work safely, the footbridge will need to be temporarily closed.
As a result, the Highfield Lane footbridge will be closed to pedestrians from 16th November. Whilst the closure is in place, pedestrians will be diverted along Nottingham Road, Meadow Lane, the new Wyvern footbridge, around the traffic island using the controlled Toucan crossings, and then finally along the pedestrian cycle route adjacent to the Costco Store back to Chequers Road.
The closure is expected to be in place for up to three weeks.
The program forms part of the successful £161m joint bid with Nottingham City Council to the Department of Transport’s Transforming Cities Fund, which is aimed at improving connections between major employment sites and promoting active travel and public transport.
The bid not only supports the city’s ambitions to improve cycling and other public transport links, but also looks at creating new park and ride hubs as well as launching an electric rapid transit route through the city centre, all contributing to the city’s recovery strategy to reboot Derby’s economy after the Covid-19 crisis.
Councillor Matthew Holmes, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Planning and Transportation said:
This scheme started in September and has been progressing well. Whilst I understand this will cause some short term disruption, the scheme itself will bring long term benefits - extending our network of cycle lanes and improving the environment to further encourage more people to stay active and cycle and walk around our city. I would like to thank everyone for their patience at this time, while this work is completed.