South Gloucestershire Council seeks views on Avon Cycle Path plans

South Gloucestershire Council will be hosting a public exhibition next week (from Monday, 8 February) to showcase planned changes to the Avon Ring Road cycle path.

The path follows the course of the ring road from the Dramway roundabout near Emersons Green, where the ring road meets the B4465 Shortwood Hill, up to the Bristol City Council boundary near Southmead Hospital, providing approximately 10km of predominantly off-road cycle facilities.

The improvements to the path, known as Route 7, are part of the joint Cycling City project with Bristol. The proposals will see:

• Upgraded and linked off-road cycle facilities
• New 1.5-2.0m wide off-road cycle lanes where appropriate
• Green surfacing and highlighted cycle facilities across junctions (including slip roads) with cycle symbols
• Continuity cycle symbols and/or arrow markings along the length of the scheme.

The intention of this scheme is to provide a continuous off-road cycle route catering for both less experienced and more confident, regular cyclists, thereby improving access to important local businesses such as Hewlett Packard, MOD Abbeywood, University of the West of England and other public amenities and facilities between Emersons Green and Southmead Hospital

The scheme is programmed for construction during 2010, subject to comments received during the public consultation stage.

Unmanned exhibitions will be held at; Sainsbury's Emersons Green BS16 7AE, University of the West of England, Frenchay Campus, BS16 1QY, Filton Sports and Leisure Centre, Elm Park, Filton, BS34 7PS for 2 weeks, from Monday, 8 February to Monday, 22 February, 2010.  Signs will also be erected along the route and posters will be displayed locally in advance of the exhibitions.

Detailed plans can be found on the South Gloucestershire consultation pages.

The full Cycling City infrastructure programme can be found here.