Building cycle infrastructure in Manchester
Improved cycle provision, higher cycling volumes and reduced emissions.
| Location of intervention | Greater Manchester |
| Contractor/delivery partner | Transport for Greater Manchester |
| Scheme implementation dates | 2013-2018 |
| Cost of scheme | £9.5 million (of total CCA grant to Greater Manchester of £42.1 million) |
| Funding source | £6 million Cycle Cities Ambition Fund and £3.5 million local funding from TfGM/Manchester City Council |
| BCR | 7.15 |
Why we did it
The Cycling Cities Ambition fund is part of the Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy. Data from Transport for Greater Manchester indicates that more than 30% of journeys under half a mile in Greater Manchester are made by car.
How we did it
Greater Manchester is one of 8 cities, or groups of cities, that received funding through the £191 million Cycle City Ambition programme.
The Wilmslow/Oxford road corridor is one of the schemes partly funded through this programme. This route is Greater Manchester’s busiest cycle corridor, partly because it passes through the university area of the city.
What we did
Cycle lanes were built over a distance of 3 miles along the Wilmslow Road and Oxford Road corridor. The scheme is on both sides of the road, and is a mix of:
- full physical segregation from traffic (63%)
- light segregation (1%)
- on-road cycle lane not physically segregated (28%)
- shared-use path (8%)
The scheme features 26 cycle bypass lanes at bus stops. This was a critical feature of the design, as the corridor is also Greater Manchester’s busiest bus corridor.
What impact did it have
Total southbound flow in the 11-week period in autumn 2017, one year after installation of the counters, was 38% higher than in the same period in autumn 2016.
A second post-intervention count in March 2018, shows there had been continued increase in cycle volumes in the section 2 to 2.5 miles from the city centre. Relative to the March 2015 baseline, the March 2018 count shows increases in cycle volumes 0-2 miles from the city centre of between 85% and 176% and increases in cycle volumes 2-2.5 miles from the city centre of between 104% and 128%.
In the calendar year 2018 more than 1 million journeys were counted on the route on Oxford Road, with up to 5,000 people passing this marker each day. This equates to 621,000 car journeys, and reduces up to 1.9 tonnes of nitrogen dioxide or 873.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
The scheme won the Excellence in Cycling and Walking category at the 2018 National Transport Awards.
Key figures
- Oxford Road recorded 5,000 two-way cycle journeys on a single day for the first time
- cycleway surpasses 1 million journeys on the route on Oxford Road
- reductions of up to 1.9 tonnes of nitrogen dioxide or 873.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide