£11m approved to deliver city transport improvements

Hull City Council has approved grant funding allocations of over £11m to deliver a series of investments on several of the city’s key routes to promote and encourage cycling and improve road safety.The council has secured £8.757m from Active Travel England’s Active Travel Fund (ATF) and £2.99m from the Department for Transport’s Safer Roads Fund.The ATF allocation will deliver two off-road cycle schemes, already approved by the council’s cabinet, on Freetown Way and Preston Road.The Safer Roads Fund money will go towards road safety improvements on the A165 corridor between its junction with Beverley Road/Ferensway/Spring Bank along Witham and Holderness Road to the boundary of the East Riding, subject to cabinet approval to proceed to tender and the awarding of design and construction contracts.Acceptance of the funding enables the three schemes to progress to their next stages, with the aim of starting on site in 2024 and works being completed by spring 2025.Councillor Mark Ieronimo, portfolio holder for transportation, roads and highways, said: “We know from speaking to our residents and through the responses to last year’s Traffic and Travel Survey that enhancing the city’s transport network is an important priority and, after a successful bid, we have secured the funding to deliver on this.“We also know our residents want us to provide the facilities needed to support greater choice when it comes to travel options.“The plans for Freetown Way, for example, will see the current road layout return to two lanes in each direction, in line with the views expressed in the survey, as well as the installation of new off-road cycle lanes, thereby better accommodating both cyclists and vehicles. There will also be a range of pedestrian improvements.”