Sustrans, the sustainable transport charity, is calling for Belfast cyclists to email the city council with their support for a new foot and cycle bridge over the river Lagan. The proposed development would provide a safe, traffic free link from Belfast city centre to Ormeau Park via the Gasworks, bypassing the busy Albert Bridge.
In an email, Sustrans say:
Belfast Council is applying for a grant from the EU to build a foot and cycle bridge over the River Lagan from the Gasworks to Ormeau Bridge. This will be a tremendous asset to the cycle network, linking to the successful riverside paths in the city sections of NCN 9 and will avoid the busy Albert and Ormeau road bridges for many journeys.
The photograph below shows how the completed bridge might look if viewed from the river looking towards the city centre. To the left you can see buildings in the Gasworks site and to the right is BT Riverside Tower.
How the new bridge might look
The proposed location for the new bridge is shown on the map below:
Proposed location for the new bridge
A bridge like this would have many advantages, improving access to the existing leisure facilities in Ormeau Park for city centre workers and improving access to the city centre for residents of the south and east of the city. This will be even more important if, as may happen, the new leisure centre that will replace Maysfield is located in Ormeau Park.
More details are available in this PDF.
If you support this proposal please email the Council with your support by close of working hours on Wed 11th November to policy@belfastcity.gov.uk and cc belfast@sustrans.org.uk
Interesting. But if the Council is already applying for an EU grant for it, why do we need to email them?
And in the PDF, why don’t they have figures for 2006 or 2008? Did they drop? (And who are the ‘others’ in the 2004 figures??)
I’m not sure why Sustrans suggest we should email the council at this point – perhaps just to give them an idea of the level of “grass roots” support for the project?
The PDF is dated 2005, that’s why there are no later figures. I’d guess “others” would be those who shouldn’t really be on the paths such as motorcyclists, horse riders and anything else strange or startling the observers noted.
@fat_cyclist tells me the bridge was originally proposed in the “Draft Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan” (BMAP) in 2004, along with another bridge linking Corporation Square with the Odyssey site. Both are still listed in the final “Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan 2015” though there has been no progress on the Odyssey bridge as yet.
Sustrans phoned me this week, to ask for me to join officially, since I got their free pack recently. I was very, VERY impressed with the guy who called – he’d done his homework on schemes they’re working on near where I live and we had a great chat about their work and cycling in general before I (how could I not) pledged my allegiance and money to the cause.
I hope schemes like this go ahead as getting over the water is such an obvious way to make cycles more popular – a real benefit.
Go on, Sustrans!
An email from Belfast Cycle City reveals why we should contact Belfast City Council: they are only considering applying for the grant to build the new bridge, so if you want to see this project go ahead it’s important to get emailing to show your support!
Belfast planners proposed something like this as far back as 1969. I suspect the fact that the bridge could be seen as an interface is the main reason why the less needed new bridge at stranmillis will be completed in a few years time, and there is more enthusiasm for one downstream at the oddyssey. Really the government should have forced the Gasworks estate to build one several years ago.
Just wondering if anyone knows anything new about this. Looking to (potentially) move to the Ravenhill area and this bridge would cut my “commute” to work roughly by about 40%! Has there been any progress? (he asked, knowingly…)