March 9 2022

Ironside Farrar has been appointed as lead designer for the Avenues Plus project, a £21.4m public realm programme backed by Sustrans to improve walking and cycling links around the city centre.

Fresh from its involvement in an initial tranche of Avenues work the environmental consultancy will oversee the implementation of four additional routes around the city centre namely Duke Street (High St - Bellgrove St) and John Knox Street (Castle St - Duke St); Dobbie’s Loan (North Hanover St - Canal St); South Portland Street (Carlton Pl - Norfolk St) and Cowcaddens Road (Cambridge St - North Hanover St).

Scheduled for delivery by 2026 the feeder routes will facilitate those wishing to travel into the city centre by foot or bike with segregated cycle lanes and broader pavements lined by rain gardens and trees.

Chiquita Elvin, head of programme at Places for Everyone for Sustrans said: “Glasgow Avenues Plus delivers safe and accessible walking, wheeling and cycling routes at a vital time for the people of Glasgow. By neatly linking in with our other projects in the city, including the South City Way and Connecting Woodside, Glasgow Avenues Plus will support cleaner air, healthier people and more enjoyable journeys for everyone.”

Cycle storage facilities will be provided along each route to address barriers to active travel.

6 Comments

#1 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 9 Mar 2022 at 12:36 PM

Avenues programme = middle class welfare.

Great work for arty farty types talking to each other -- less good for the people who will miss out on investment due to this waste of money.

Surely the parks in Glasgow have a more pressing need for investment than a few pavements?

Surely pavement maintenance / upgrades is what councils do without the need for constant press releases and publicity?

City region deal -- what a waste.

#2 Posted by Neil Paterson on 9 Mar 2022 at 13:22 PM

Couldn't agree more with the above- public realm should be a basic council function. Dobbies Loan looks like a demilitarised zone as it is - adding some nice trees and a cycle lane to what is effectively a traffic trunk road achieves very little. The M8 turned historic parts of the city into no mans land and it remains that way. Money better spent elsewhere.

#3 Posted by Old Town on 9 Mar 2022 at 14:12 PM

Puzzled why Castle Street and High Street are omitted from all these plans. Surely these streets should have been prize jewels?

#4 Posted by Landschafter on 10 Mar 2022 at 13:58 PM

#1 Interesting to see cycling being "middle class", in spite of the cost of motoring being waaaaaayyyy more expensive than many bikes.

To follow this with a lazy argument of "wHaT aBoUt tHe pArKs aNd PoThOleEs" reimagined by someone with a thesaurus.

Without massive investment in moving people via low-carbon means (and I don't mean electric cars - they're not the answer) we're doomed to recreate the mistakes referred to by #2 above. The only way to reanimate those historic parts of the city is to get people to walk and cycle through them.

#5 Posted by Gandalf the Pink on 11 Mar 2022 at 10:06 AM

#4 - nail on the head.

#1 - cycling and walking are arty farty activities these days? C'mon now...

#6 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 13 Mar 2022 at 09:39 AM

Middle class welfare = the arty farty types who take a wage out of the consultations / the design exercises / the report preparation / option development.

Stealing oxygen from the working class by talking to themselves.

Electric cars not the answer -- interesting.
To me they are a large part of the answer.

Georgian / Victorian streets were wide for a reason and it wasn't for afternoon strolling.

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