Bradford’s new £3.1 million Canal Road Cycleway opens

12 June 2019

Bradford’s new £3.1 million Canal Road Cycleway opened on Saturday 25 May.

Bradford Council Cycling Champion and Combined Authority Transport Committee member Cllr Taj Salam joined members of the community and representatives from Bradford’s community cycling groups and clubs for a ribbon cutting to officially open the new route.

CityConnect programme 

The cycleway is part of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s £60 million CityConnect programme aimed at encouraging more people to travel by bike or on foot. The 2.3km runs along Hillam Road, Bolton Lane and Valley Road, ending at Lower Kirkgate, near Bradford Forster Square, providing a missing link in cycling infrastructure between Shipley and Bradford.

To the north the cycleway links to the existing Canal Road Greenway, which is also part of Sustrans’ National Cycle Network (66), and continues on to Shipley.

The route south ends close to the start of the award-winning Bradford Leeds Cycle Superhighway, which heads out of the city centre, enabling people to travel by bike on a series of routes segregated from traffic.

Missing link

Cllr Kim Groves, Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Transport Committee, said: “I’m delighted this important scheme has been completed in partnership with Bradford Council.

“The new Canal Road Cycleway provides an important missing link in Bradford’s cycle network, connecting people travelling by bike between Shipley and the city centre with employment, training and leisure opportunities.

“We know encouraging more of us to travel by bike or on foot not only boosts people’s health and saves individual’s money, it also brings wider environmental and economic benefits, which is why we want to make cycling and walking a natural choice for short, everyday journeys.”

Cllr Alex Ross-Shaw, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning and Transport at Bradford Council, said: “We are thrilled to open another high quality cycleway which builds on the hugely successful CityConnect 1 scheme connecting Leeds and Bradford.

“The new cycle path expands our existing network which provides excellent sustainable and affordable transport options, improved air quality, better health and fitness, and great recreational choices for all ages.”

Integrate

Bradford resident Fozia Naseem who is co-founder of Hop on Yorkshire, an organisation aimed at encouraging more women and girls from different cultures and backgrounds to cycle, said: “The opening of the cycleway is great news for Hop On as it opens up a whole new area for the people we ride with, allowing different communities to integrate which is one of our core aims.

“There is so much beauty to see in Bradford, which is easy to miss in our busy lives. Having this new route will make it easier for all of us to enjoy cycling even more and to see Bradford in all its glory. It will also open up opportunities for longer rides for people to let go of mental stress and be free to just cycle.”

Find out more about the Combined Authority's £60 million City Connect programme.