A ROUTE to the town centre for Long Lawford and New Bilton cyclists is the latest addition to the Rugby area’s 20 miles of dedicated cycle paths.
It means cyclists can now avoid the busy main A428 Lawford Road and the Warwick Street gyratory system when accessing the town centre.
The new 1.5 mile route includes a dedicated shared cycle and pedestrian path along the A428 from Briars Close in Long Lawford to just east of Parkfield Road.
From here, the route leaves the A428 Lawford Road and follows a mixture of shared cycle paths and residential streets to reach Corporation Street, where cyclists can now use upgraded signals to cross over to Little Elborow Street.
The route was jointly funded by a housing development in Long Lawford, Warwickshire County Council and Sustrans through the Department for Transport’s Cycle Safety Scheme.
Coun Peter Butlin, the council’s environment spokesman, said: “It is great to see this important new cycle route open.
“The scheme will be of benefit to a significant number of people living in Long Lawford and the western part of Rugby, enabling them to travel sustainably for their local journeys.
“We are very pleased to have been successful last year in securing Cycle Safety Scheme funding from Sustrans, which has enabled us to extend this new cycle route to the town centre.”
Warwickshire County Council will be publishing a new cycle guide showing these routes at the end of August, which will be available at the library, tourist information offices and other outlets in Rugby. Alternatively, visit www.warwickshire.gov.uk/cycleroutes to download a copy.
Yvonne Gilligan, West Midlands regional director of Sustrans, said: “This scheme builds strongly on the success of the Leicester Road Viaduct cycleway by extending the walking and cycling networks in Rugby to allow even more people to travel actively and healthily.
“As the charity that is working to enable people to travel by foot, bike or public transport for more of the journeys we make every day, we are delighted to have been part of this development.”
