55 miles of new cycle routes to be built across Greater Manchester by December 2021

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, and Walking and Cycling Commissioner Chris Boardman have announced 55 miles of new walking and cycle routes, plus 140 road crossings, will be delivered by December 2021.

The new cycle routes will form part of Greater Manchester’s Bee Network of walking and cycling routes across the city-region. The 55 miles of the network planned to be completed by the end of next year, and known as beeways, will reach all 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester. The first Bee Network signage will be installed in Summer 2021.

In Stockport, seven routes will be completed to make walking and cycling safer and more attractive in the borough. These are:

• Gillbent Road crossing – £500,000, due to be completed Winter 2020, this scheme provides an enhanced crossing for people travelling by bike and on foot in Cheadle Hulme. It will better connect residential areas, including access to Thorn Grove Primary School.
• Offerton to Stockport beeway – £700,000, due to be completed in Autumn 2021 – A continuous cycling and walking route from Offerton to Stockport town centre.
• Hazel Grove upgrades – £1.1 million, due to be completed in Autumn 2021 – A number of off-road routes to link communities and encourage walking and cycling.
• Ladybrook Valley – £800,000, due to be completed Spring 2021 – Scheme to complete a ‘missing link’ of the continuous walking and cycling route through the Ladybrook Valley, connecting previous sections which were delivered by CCAG. The section is around 1.1km long connecting between Ladybridge Road and Bramhall Park Road, with an additional spur to Blenheim Road. The works will provide a surfaced route suitable for cycling, along a route which is currently a grassy footpath.
• Heaton Cycle Links – £5 million, due to be completed in 2021 – A package of measures to create a series of quiet routes for pedestrians and cyclists between the Manchester Cycleway (Fallowfield Loop) and the Trans Pennine Trail at Heaton Mersey.
• Cheadle Hulme Crossings Package – £1.2 million, due to be completed in 2021 – The scheme includes three new signal crossings on busy roads in Cheadle Hulme. This will provide access to the wider walking and cycling network and better access to local facilities.

The projects were announced with a 90 minute bike ride, taking the Mayor and former professional cyclist Chris Boardman along Wigan’s Muddy Mile, the first Bee Network route which completed in Summer 2019. Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, said:

It’s been years in the making, but GM’s cycling and walking revolution is finally starting. To build the capability and scheme pipeline to deliver a new way of travel for a whole city region has taken us two years, but we are now ready to begin delivery. By next summer we will begin to see the fruits of our labour and the region’s residents will finally have the chance to travel to shops and schools easily and safely without using a car. Today heralds the real start of our cycling and walking story, coincidentally aligning with bike to school week.

“Next year is going to be incredibly exciting with spades going in the ground. This is a huge step towards making Greater Manchester a true cycling and walking city-region. Projects like the Chorlton beeway and Bolton’s new junctions are world-class and they are going to open up cycling and walking as a new option for hundreds of thousands of people. Greater Manchester residents have told us that they want safe space to travel on foot and by bike, so this is exactly what we are delivering.”

Greater Manchester’s Walking and Cycling Commissioner, Chris Boardman, said:

We started this mission nearly two years ago and I’m so pleased with the significant work GM’s local authorities have been doing behind the scenes to get this monumental mission underway.

“The Bee Network was a vision; now, having completed the planning, paperwork and many consultations, we are ready to start making it a reality. It will create better places to live and work, give those with a car the option to leave it at home and for those who don’t, it will provide them with a reliable, safe and pleasant network to walk or ride to shops, schools and workplaces. This is the beginning of Greater Manchester’s twenty first century transport revolution.”   

The projects are being funded by the Mayor’s Challenge Fund and covers 35 projects across Greater Manchester. Also to be delivered city-region-wide is a £2.2 million investment in Bee Network crossings, GM safety camera digitalisation, and a GM Bike Hire scheme, due to launch in Spring 2021.

A full list of projects to be completed by December 2021 across the whole of Greater Manchester is available from the TfGM website.