Work has started on the on-road improvements being delivered as part of the Birmingham Cycle Revolution scheme with the aim of making cycling an everyday way to travel in the city. When complete, the current package of work on the Lichfield Road ‘main corridor’ will comprise mainly of cycling facilities within existing bus lanes, following the A5127 from the City Centre to Erdington via Lancaster Circus, Corporation Street, Dartmouth Circus, Aston Road, Lichfield Road and Salford Circus.

Elsewhere, as part of the ‘Local Links’ programme (so that canal towpaths and green routes are linked to the other parts of the cycling network – these are minor measures such as pedestrian crossings, dropped kerbs, refuges and signs and lines), works have been completed on Coplow Street/Northbrook Road , Hazelwell Road and Fordrough Lane.

Improvements on Barford Road (Edgbaston) are expected to be completed by the end of January. Schemes on Yardley Green Road, Stratford Road, Hob Moor Road and Bordesley Green East will be starting in February.

Parallel Routes (cycle routes on quieter roads for the less confident cyclist) at Warwick Road and Bristol Road are currently being planned with a view to work commencing in February. A further Parallel Route for Alcester Road is programmed to commence in early March.

Cllr Lisa Trickett, Cabinet Member for Sustainability, who champions cycling issues for the council, said: “It’s great that we are now starting to deliver another important strand of the Birmingham Cycle Revolution.

“If we are to achieve the modal shift from cars to other more sustainable forms of transport like bicycles, we need to get the right infrastructure in place.

“Improvements to on-road routes such as the Lichfield Road main corridor are an essential part of this. Complemented by the local links, parallel routes, green routes and canal routes, cycling from A to B in Birmingham will be made easier than ever before.”

Consultation on a range of further routes is due to start in the spring, with full details being made available when they are ready.

For more information on the Birmingham Cycle Revolution, please visit www.birmingham.gov.uk/bcr