Nearly £13.5 million will be spent improving key areas of Liverpool city centre in a bid to make it easier to walk and cycle through.
Liverpool Council is preparing to accept grant funding of £13.42m from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA). The CA is distributing funds it received from the government's Levelling Up fund.
A report to the council's cabinet next week sets out plans to accept the funding and details the city centre projects it will be spent on. All the projects are aimed at improving cycling and walking routes around the city centre.
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The works will include the first phase of a project to improve the St George's Gateway around Dale Street and Great Crosshall Street. £3.33m will be used to review and identify solutions for problems in the areas. This will include Improving the ByromStreet/Hunter Street/Great Crosshall Street junction and the operation of Great Crosshall Street. There are also plans to provide 'high-quality segregated cycle facilities, pedestrian space and controlled crossing points' on Byrom Street.
Recent works to improve the busy Strand road, that runs along Liverpool's famous waterfront, have included a major new cycle route. But the council's Highways and Transport teams have identified a gap at the cycle network between the facilities already constructed at the Strand and a cycle lane set to be developed at Tithebarn Street.
Just under half a million pounds from the fund will be spent introducing fully segregated cycle facilities in the Chapel Street area. The council says this will close the cycle network gap and ensure a continuous segregate cycle lane connects new facilities at The Strand and Tithebarn Street.
Other gaps in the cycle infrastructure network have been identified on the Dock Road, with a disconnect at Waterloo Road and Regent Road. The report states that just over £3 million will be spent on new cycle facilities here in order to 'provide a continuous segregated cycle network connecting the Strand with newly constructed facilities at the north of the city.'
The biggest chunk of the £13.5m fund will be spent in the Ropewalks area of Liverpool city centre. This is a lively part of the city centre that includes hospitality hotspots like Bold Street, Wood Street, Slater Street, Duke Street and Hanover Street.
In this area, the council intends to spend more than £6.5m on a range of improvements for pedestrians and cyclists. The scheme will involve improving pavements and roads by replacing the current carriageway cobble setts and footway paving slabs which have become broken, uneven and a cause of trip hazards with new 'high quality materials.'
The report states: "This scheme also looks at improving the safety of pedestrians and cyclists in the area and promoting active travel." It will see the installation of new and improved seating, bike racks and lighting, with 'unnecessary street furniture' removed.
Work on the initial two streets of Wood and Slater Street is currently being completed thanks to separate Department for Transport funding. The new funding will allow a second phase of work to be carried out on these streets, before improvements are made to Fleet Street, Colquitt Street, Ropewalks Square and Back Colquitt Street.
The report, which is expected to be signed off at next Friday's cabinet meeting, has the support of the government appointed commissioners who are overseeing regeneration projects by the council at present.
