Work has started to deliver four types of project funded by a second bid to make it safer for walking or cycling for commuting, essential trips and exercise.
A £2m application to Sustrans to back upgrading the Green Circular, connecting schools and communities, pop-up cycle lanes on commuter routes and measures around physical distancing in District Centres was agreed earlier this year.
The charity distributing funds on behalf of the Scottish Government endorsed the second request following the success of the first Spaces for People projects in the city, and have continued to work closely with the council in the planning and use of the funds.
Mark Flynn convener of Dundee City council’s city development committee said: “I am pleased to see that the preparation work is well underway on what are another set of exciting and interesting projects.
“It takes safe active travel for pedestrians, wheelers and cyclists during the Covid period out to more areas across the city and broadens the scope of measures already in place.
“These four new projects provide greater encouragement for people to use cleaner, greener and healthier ways of getting to and from their destination, not just in the current period but also as we move into the future.”
Reinstatement and relaunch of Dundee Green Circular was awarded £400,000 to re-establish Scotland’s first sustainable “ring-road” with work to take place at 20 sites along the route including resurfacing, widening, installing traffic signs and removing overgrown vegetation.
A £400,000 project will help to boost usage of the established cycling network connecting schools and communities. It will incorporate widening the existing footway in the park near St Andrews PS and provision for a table top crossing at St Leonards Place; a new footway/cycleway along the south verge of Gilburn Road and provision for a new pedestrian crossing near Asda to improve the safer route to St Paul’s Academy.
In addition, a new footway/cycleway within the central reservation in Balgowan Avenue will improve the safer routes and connecting school links for St Andrews, Sidlaw View and St Paul’s.
To connect communities a new footway/cycleway link will be created along West Grange Road from Lawers Drive to the existing cycleway/footway link adjacent to A92 Arbroath Road.
New pop-up cycle lanes will use £700,000 of the money to improve the key commuter route between the city centre and Ninewells Hospital. The council has been working closely with NHS Tayside over the past two years to identify potential improvements that will make it easier and safer for people to travel to and around the Ninewells Hospital site on foot and by bike.
District Centre physical distancing measures totalling £500,000 will be implemented and engagement and communications with businesses and traders to review ideas and suggestions is set to start in the near future. Suggestions have included widening of pavements, creation of parklets, decluttering of footways and removal of some parking.
Funded by Scottish Government and managed by Sustrans Scotland, Spaces for People is a temporary infrastructure programme in Scotland offering funding and support to make it safer for people who choose to walk, cycle or wheel for permitted journeys and exercise, while physical distancing is in place during Covid-19 and as we transition out of the current restrictions.
Dundee City Council
Dundee draws skilled workers from a 60-minute catchment population of 640,000 and has a local population of over 140,000. The availability of a large pool of highly skilled labour is a key feature in the Dundee economy. Flexibility in the labour force is currently more prevalent in Dundee than in Scotland as a whole. All forms of labour market flexibility - part-time, temporary employment, self-employment and shift work - are widely operational within the city. Labour force stability in the city is excellent, enabling companies to plan with confidence. Labour turnover levels are less than 5% and absenteeism averages 2%.
