Public views given on cycle proposals as Highland Council hosts consultation on proposed cycle route through Inverness city centre
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Residents had the chance to share their views on plans for a proposed cycle route on busy Inverness city centre roads.
There was an in-person consultation event at Velocity Café and Bike Workshop in Crown Avenue last Wednesday evening and organisers held a virtual session on the following day.
Highland Council is seeking feedback about the proposed designs which are an extension of the visualised Academy Street changes, designed to be improvements for people walking and wheeling.
Garry Smith, the council’s lead officer for infrastructure, gave a short presentation about the proposed vision for the city centre and around 30 people who attended on Wednesday were then invited to share their views.
He said: “Generally the feedback has been good and we have been looking at changing Academy Street for some time.”
Mr Smith said that maybe the current balance – between vehicles, pedestrians and other road users – was wrong and there was a need to try and redress it to “create a better atmosphere and encourage more active travel”.
During his presentation he said that Academy Street was currently “dominated” by vehicles and around 50 to 60 per cent of them did not need to be there.
There were two proposed cycle routes in the city centre, designed to facilitate cycling across the city by connecting Millburn Road to the existing cycle routes in Ness Walk and Huntly Street.
Mr Smith said: “It’s not the finished article and it is the general principle of creating more space for people.”
There was a mixed reaction to the proposals from those attending Wednesday’s session and one cyclist said they were disappointed that bicycles and cars were not more segregated.
Others felt that traffic should be more restricted and they were in favour of a dedicated cycle lane.
And one resident felt that the proposals were not as visionary as they could have been.
The first proposed cycle route which has been put forward would utilise the Eastgate Underpass to connect to the existing cycle route on the High Street before ultimately connecting to Bridge Street.
The second proposed route would access Falcon Square and Inglis Street.
In both scenarios, the plan would be to reconfigure Bridge Street to accommodate a cycle connection by reducing the width of the carriageway.
• Details of the proposed designs for Academy Street can be found at the consultation website where there is also an opportunity to give direct feedback.
