Northern Ireland Outdoors Forum - Hiking, camping and more
Information => Outdoor News and Events => Topic started by: admin on January 24, 2017
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(https://i2.wp.com/bikefast.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/BBNP_maps.jpg?w=1024)
Belfast will construct a dedicated bicycle network running to more than 130km over the next decade. The Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has released its Belfast Bicycle Network Plan for public consultation with the message that our city’s current reliance on the private motor car is “killing us”.
Following the overarching Bicycle Strategy for Northern Ireland, published in August 2015, Belfast was selected as the first urban centre to get a dedicated route. The city already has a seemingly impressive 80km collection of cycling space, however the majority is based on ‘advisory’ on-road cycle lanes with no more than 4km of dedicated and protected cycleways. As well as the poor quality, continuity of routes is a major barrier to mass cycling.
Belfast has seen significant investment in active travel and public transport in the last decade. Bus lanes have sprung up around the city in preparation for next year’s launch of Bus Rapid Transit, while the Coca-Cola Zero Belfast Bikes public bicycle hire system has proved among the most popular in the British Isles.
The overall plan is an amalgamation of 11 separate route corridors, based an inner, middle and outer ring pattern, and arterial linkages from city centre to the outer ring and beyond. There is a mix of existing route corridors (the Comber Greenway, Loughshore Path and Lagan Towpath extending to the edge of the map are most obvious) and several brand new route suggestions.
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Read the rest:
http://bikefast.org/2017/01/23/belfast-bicycle-network-plan-launched/
Consultation Document:
https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/consultations/infrastructure/draft-belfast-bicyle-network-2016-consultation-document.pdf