In a £1m lease deal, the council and School of Art will work to deliver Underline Avenue by 2023.
Glasgow City Council is to lease land from the Glasgow School of Art in order to deliver a direct pedestrian and cyclist link between the city centre and the West End.
For the route to be created, Glasgow City Council have agreed on a lease deal for 524 square metres of land owned by Glasgow School of Art, whose board gave agreement in principle to work with the council in delivering the project.
Despite the vast space required for the route, it paradoxically comes at a price of £1 per annum over a 25-year period. The new route hopes to provide a social benefit, creating ease of travel for those living and working around Glasgow and also help the environment.
With a completion date pencilled in for 2023, the pedestrianised cycle-friendly route is one of 21 similar “Avenues” projects. The route will run between St Georges Cross and Cowcaddens, making it easier for cyclists and pedestrians to traverse across some of the busiest parts of the city.
The first completed route of this kind was the Sauchiehall Street Avenue in 2018, and the entire “Avenues” project is hoped to be completed by 2027. Glasgow City Council has described this project as forming an “integrated network” of routes suitable for both walkers and cyclists that aims to link central Glasgow to nearby areas only a 30-minute bike ride away, like Bearsden, Giffnock, and Rutherglen.
Councilor Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council and chair of the Glasgow city region cabinet said in a statement to Glasgow City Council: “A core benefit of the Avenues programme is how it will improve connections across the city centre, with the Underline transforming how people can travel to and from the city centre and the West End. This is the next step in the delivery of the Underline, which will create a far more attractive environment for everyone who uses this route or lives, studies or works on it.”
Other existing cycle routes can be found on sustrans.org.uk, including the Forth and Clyde Canal towpath and the number seven route from Glasgow to Loch Lomond, where entry can be gained via the West End from behind Partick Station.
