A plan to increase Belfast's cycle lanes by 193km has been unveiled by Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon.
The proposals, released on Wednesday, outline over 50 new cycling schemes including new trial routes in three stages between 2022 and 2031 but will be budget dependant.
From a spend of around £1million in 2021/22 DfI propose an annual increase of £2million each year until the final year of the programme when capital spend could be around £19million.
Belfast currently has four key cycling routes including Comber Greenway, Connswater Community Greenway, Lagan towpath and the North Foreshore Path, which DfI admits "need significant improvement in places". On top of these longer routes, smaller cycle lanes can be found in city parks like Botanic, Falls, Ormeau and Waterworks.
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Proposed short term schemes focused on "joining up the existing elements of the network" could see up to 33,450m more of cycle ways in the city, including a 5,700m Greenway in West Belfast, a Holywood path and Sydenham Greenway and an inner ring between the Gasworks and under construction Belfast Transport Hub.
If delivered they could see the cycle lane network go from:
To a more joined up network by 2025 as outlined below:
Medium term schemes outlined in the plan focus on "areas of the city where there is currently a marked lack of infrastructure". Proposals include 6,100m of cycle way from Boucher Road to Belfast Transport hub, 4,100m from Crumlin Road to Oldpark Road and on to Ballysillan as well as Ulster University connections, a route from RVH to Botanic and further extensions to the West Belfast Greenway to name a few.
The medium term plan runs from 2025 to 2028 and the proposed extensions are outlined below in yellow:
Longer term, Minister Mallon's Belfast Cycle Network Delivery Plan aims to deliver "more difficult schemes" that "will play an important role in completing the cycling network" from 2028-2031. Proposals include a 11,850m outer ring route from Shaw's Bridge to Holywood, phase 2 of the Ravenhill Greenway, 700m along Great Victoria Street and a 4,900m route from Colin to Falls Park as well as 3,400m along Castlereagh Road and 4,500m from Ballysillan to Belfast Castle.
If completed the long term routes would add a further 63,925m of cycle routes to the city by 2031, which are outlined in red below:
Minister Mallon said the plan adds meat to the bones of her active travel ambitions for the city and will make Belfast a more liveable city.
“It is my ambition to significantly increase opportunities for active travel, to give everyone the freedom and confidence to be able to walk, wheel or cycle in our city safely," she explained.
“The Belfast Cycling Network Delivery Plan gives detail to my ambition for a more cycle friendly city. By creating a network of safe cycling infrastructure over the next ten years we can continue to make the city better for walking and wheeling, improve public transport while encouraging more people to consider cycling as a mode of transport and reduce the dominance of motor vehicles throughout the city.
“This is not, of course, a static plan,” she added.
“It needs to be dynamic, responding to changes in the needs of the people of this city. It should not be the limits of our ambition, but the framework within which our ambitions for active travel can grow.”
Caroline Bloomfield, NI Director of Sustrans, said: “We hope that the launch of the Delivery Plan will be a step change on the road to making walking and cycling the easiest and most attractive options for the people of Belfast.”
North Belfast Green Party NI councillor Mal O’Hara has hit out at the “long overdue strategy’s paucity of ambition”.
He said: “Transport accounts for 23% of our emissions in Northern Ireland, and Belfast’s dirty air contributes to 1 in 24 deaths in the city.
“This is an environmental and public health crisis which needs an urgent and ambitious response.
“As a city councillor, I have worked hard to lead the conversation on reimagining our city,” he added.
“Unfortunately, the Infrastructure Minister has not used her powers to deliver the change local representatives have been calling for.
“The only new cycle route planned for North Belfast in the next three years is the Cavehill/Limestone segregated lane.”
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