A SEGREGATED path for cyclists and pedestrians created when Glasgow's infamous 'Bridge to Nowhere ' was finally completed has been hailed a success after researchers found it had boosted active travel in the city.
A study conducted by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health gathered users' views of the new Kelvingrove-Anderston route, which links Kelvingrove Park in the west of the city to Glasgow city centre.
It opened to cyclists and pedestrians in summer 2013 after the unfinished overpass across the M8 motorway was finally completed, and renamed the Anderston Footbridge.
The so-called 'Bridge to Nowhere' was left hanging in mid-air for decades after the shopping centre that it was meant to link to failed to materialise.
The GCPH study found that nearly half of participants surveyed (45 per cent) had changed their journey to take advantage of the new route, while almost one in four had switched from driving or taking public transport to make their journey to and from town by bike or on foot after the new route opened.
Participants reported faster, cheaper and less stressful journeys as a result, and cyclists in particular welcomed the raised kerb feature of the route which separated them from traffic.
Bruce Whyte, a member of the GCPH research team, said: "The Kelvingrove-Anderston route, while it could be improved further, is perceived by users to be safer than other on-road alternatives and has encouraged modal shifts to more active and sustainable forms of travel.
"It is interesting that there is support for further development of this type of safe infrastructure in other parts of Glasgow and that people would like to see more routes in order to create a more cohesive active travel network across the city.
"If more journeys in Glasgow were made by bike or on foot, our population would be healthier and happier and we would have cleaner air in our city, as our streets would be less dominated by motor traffic."
Councillor Archie Graham, depute leader of Glasgow City Council and executive member for the Commonwealth Games, said: "It's fantastic that the famous 'Bridge to Nowhere' is generating so much enthusiasm and is encouraging more people to walk or cycle, which is one of our key legacy ambitions from the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.
"The route allows cyclists and walkers to get where they want to go safely under their own steam and is proving to be a vital link in the city's transport infrastructure."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article