In Birmingham a total of £62 million is being invested in biking infrastructure. This has been provided by the government to help support current schemes in Birmingham, like the Cycle Revolution and Push Bikes scheme. [3] In general new biking routes have been planned.  In particular, a 4.5km route between Perry Bar and Birmingham City Centre. In addition to this, £14 million of this investment has been spent on the resurfacing 54km of Canal Towpaths. This has led to an increase of 50% in cyclist who travel between Birmingham and Worcester. [1]

 

Coventry have also taken a similar path to Birmingham in the

sense that they have focused their improvements around

Canal Towpaths. Currently £470,000 has been invested in

improvements along a path which leads to the City Centre,

along a 2.5 km stretch. This all forms part of a £7 million

Cycle Project. [2] 

 

In Wolverhampton, there are future plans towards creating a

7km biking route along A449 Stafford Road Corridor

between Wolverhampton City Centre and i54 at M54 J2.

This was seen as ideal as statistics have shown that 68% of

households in Dunstall Hill, at the Southern end corridor, do

not have a car. Therefore, this corridor has one of

the highest potentials for cycling in the Black Country. 

 

Apart from Wolverhampton having its own cycling route,

there are also plans for paths to link between Wolverhampton

and other areas. For example, there will be a route linking

Wolverhampton to Walsall, linking through Willenhall, which

will improve access along the M6 motorway. This will be

 linked to a 13km parallel secondary route.  

 

I

n an area not far from Wolverhampton, known as Dudley, a

43km cycling route has been proposed. Dudley is an area

where currently 53% of all trips to work by residents are shorter than 5km, however only 1.8% of those are made by bike. Hence, this shows that Dudley is also has one of the highest potentials for cycling in the Black Country. 

 

Furthermore, other upcoming infrastructure plans around the West Midlands include a 22km long route linking the 3 primary locations: Walsall, Wednesbury and Darlaston and in West Bromwich proposals for a new 34km cycling route have been made. [4]

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[1] http://www.bhamcyclerevolution.org.uk/page/SellyOak_route

[Accessed 7th June 2017]

 

[2] https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/news-and-views/news/new-towpath-will-transform-the-coventry-canal

[Accessed 7th June 2017]

 

[3] http://www.bike-west-midlands.org.uk

[Accessed 7th June 2017]

 

[4] https://wolvesonwheels.org.uk/latest/459-cycle-superhighways-plan-for-wolverhampton

[Accessed 7th June 2017]

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