A bid that includes funding temporary measures to promote cycling and walking in Spalding and Holbeach town centres has been launched.
Lincolnshire County Council, the authority responsible for highways in South Holland, has submitted plans to the Department for Transport for funding to make changes to town streets.
What work is carried out will depend on how much the Department of Transport gives the county council, a spokesman for the authority told The Voice.
A spokesman for Lincolnshire County Council, said: “The changes will predominantly focus on roads in Lincoln, Grantham, Boston, Spalding, Sleaford and Holbeach and include:
- Creating temporary cycle lanes using bollards, planters or cones
- Closing roads to vehicles to allow only pedestrians and cyclists
- Widening or creating new pedestrian crossings to maximise space for people
- Providing more cycle parking
- Relocating parking or loading bays to provide extra space for walking and queuing in town and city centres.
“The measures will initially be temporary to allow them to be implemented as quickly as possible. However, each intervention will be assessed and could be made permanent.
“If the plans are approved by the Department for Transport (DfT), all the work will be completed within just two months.”
Coun Richard Davies, executive member for highways and transport, said: “As Lincolnshire continues to open up again, we’re laying out plans to use temporary measures in our urban areas to promote cycling and walking as an alternative to other modes of transport and to encourage sustainable travel.
“We’ve focused our plans on the places where these measures will make the most difference: these are compact urban areas where cycling and walking are feasible alternatives to both public transport and driving.
“The measures will also support retail businesses in our town and city centres, creating space for customers to social distance and queue safely.
“We’re working on cycling and walking plans for each of our larger towns and Lincoln, so we’ll see the effects these temporary measures have and they will be factored into the plans and could well be made permanent.
“Over the past few months, we’ve seen a huge rise in the number of people walking and cycling. Whilst traffic remains below pre-lockdown levels, we’re still seeing almost double the number of cyclists on the roads, according to data from the DfT.
“We want to help make it easier for people to keep those new cycling and walking habits; pop-up cycle lanes, traffic-free streets and more space will allow us to do that.”
