CONSULTATION has begun on the final two routes in the £100 million Transforming Cities Fund project for south east Dorset.
Details of the two routes – one linking Poole town centre with Ferndown and Wimborne and the other from Merley to Christchurch – have been published ahead of work starting in the coming months.
They are the longest of the six planned and, on top of aiming to improve cycle and pedestrian links, include better provision for bus services.
Read more: New cycle routes: what they will mean for cyclists, motorists and pedestrians
The mainly government-funded scheme will see new segregated cyclist and walking routes created alongside new bus shelters with real-time service information and road changes to priorities buses.
Consultation on the four cycleways was carried out earlier this year and the first work to construct them has already started.
The process is now being started for the two “sustainable travel corridors” which total more than 31 miles in length.
The first links Poole town centre with Ferndown and Wimborne, via Ringwood Road and Wimborne Road.
Ringwood Road looking north towards Casterbridge Roa
It includes speed limit reductions, new segregated cycle lanes, junction and roundabout improvements, road closures for traffic and bus stop upgrades.
The second connects Merley to Christchurch via Wimborne Road and Magna Road with new crossings, protected cycle lanes and similar speed reductions.
Links to Pottery Business Park, Mannings Heath Industrial Estate, Ferndown Industrial Estate, Wessex Fields, Royal Bournemouth and Poole hospitals and Turbary Retail Park and Castlepoint will also be improved.
The work has been welcomed by the managing directors of both Morebus and Yellow Buses who said it would speed up journey times.
Both have contributed towards topping up the £80 million government grant to more than £100 million in total.
“We are all aware how bad congestion is within the conurbation, the programme offers a real opportunity to improve bus journey times on these two sustainable travel routes, supporting both the economic recovery and ambitions on clean air,” David Squire of Yellow Buses said.
BCP Council cabinet member for transport, councillor Mike Greene, said the work would “transform” travel across the area.
The consultation will run until June 14 and the council has to complete all work by early 2023.
To take part, visit https://haveyoursay.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/transforming-travel
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