A NEW cycleway on Thornton Road will be another step towards a cycle route from Bradford city centre to the West of the District, which could eventually include Queensbury Tunnel.

A planned 7km CityConnect route from the centre down Thornton Road, which will have a projected cost of £17.5m was discussed by members of West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Investment Committee yesterday.

It is one of four major projects for the city that will be funded through the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund - a huge package of infrastructure works in West Yorkshire.

The package of works for Bradford, worth between £87 million and £102 million, includes the cycleway, a park and ride from the South of Bradford, near the M606, a new entranceway to Bradford Interchange from Hall Ings and a major restructure of the city centre, which will include the pedestrianisation of Market Street and parts of Hall Ings.

At yesterday;s meeting, the committee, made up of representatives from five West Yorkshire Councils, agreed to provide funding to help draw up business cases for the schemes before March.

Projects to 'transform' Bradford city centre - worth at least £86 million - to move to next stage

Fiona Limb, Programme Manager, said: “The schemes will improve connectivity across the city centre for those on foot or bike. It will also provide the reconfiguration of bus services in the city centre at key junctions such as the Jacob’s Well roundabout and Bridge Street.

“It is a fundamental re-modelling of the city centre and how it operates. It will create a more pleasant environment and take traffic out of the area.

“All these schemes complement each other and have collective benefits. They are greater than the sum of their parts, and complement the Clean Air Zone plans for the city.”

She said the park and ride would include an improved a two lane bus expressway on Manchester Road, ferrying users between a 1,000 space car park near the motorway and the city centre.

The new entranceway to the Interchange is likely to involve the demolition of the Hall Ings NCP car park - which is owned by Bradford Council.

The committee heard that the work will make travel to and from the interchange a much more “pleasant” experience - with the station opening out onto a pedestrianised area leading to City Park.

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Bradford Council’s Executive for Regeneration, Planning and Transport, said: “This is a really exciting package that links together our wider vision of the city centre.

“One of the benefits of the West Bradford cycle superhighway is that it goes towards Thornton which gets you closer to the Great Northern Railway Trail, which in turn gets you closer to Queensbury. Then you can start to see the development of a cycle network that will hopefully include Queensbury Tunnel, which is something the Authority has been working on.”

For years there has been a long running campaign to re-open the Queensbury Tunnel - a long disused rail tunnel in the West of Bradford, transforming it into a cycle way. Despite strong local support, including the backing of local Councils and the Combined Authority, Highways England is planning on filling the tunnel in, citing safety concerns.

Members agreed to release funding to draw up business cases for the plans.