TRAVELLING from Bradford to Leeds by bus has given me a first class view of all the construction work that's now linking up the new safe cycle route between the two cities – the cycle superhighway. About time too as I have always found pedalling round the Pudsey and Stanningley roundabouts scary and bad for my blood pressure.

At last there's a serious effort to provide a proper, safe cycling route that is separated from motorised traffic, and the footpath, by a physical barrier, and there are two types. One has a substantial raised paved kerb and the other a narrower, traditional kerb, but both do the job of physically keeping traffic away from vulnerable cyclists.

Another bonus will be a very smooth and regular surface to ride on and it will be far superior to the current second rate provision. Most of us that cycle on the main roads know that the few feet close to the gutter can be blocked by parked cars, and are rough, pot holed, covered with loose debris including broken glass, and the drain covers are often aligned so that a bike wheel slots straight into them.

I'm not quite sure about the precise route in the centre of Bradford, as it says aspirational on the map, but it will start in some fashion from the City Park, near Centenary Square and then proceed along Hall Ings to the bottom of Leeds Road.

Then it's either turn left along Well Street, behind the Westfield development, to join the separate cycle path system at the foot of Church Bank, by the cathedral, or there's an alternative to avoid the steep climb. This means continuing up Leeds Road, on a separated path, through the lights and then left along Harris Street to join the main cycleway on Barkerend Road.

From there it's almost a straight route to the Leeds boundary, with both types of separated pathway, up Barkerend Road, and across Killinghall Road to the Thornbury roundabout at the top of Leeds Road. The pathway goes all the way round it, and is joined by a feeder spur bringing in cyclists along Dick Lane from the south, and a little further on from the north, down Gain Lane, past Morrisons HQ.

It then continues into Leeds, through Stanningley and Armley, and finally reaches the centre of Leeds before completing a fourteen mile route by the time it arrives at Seacroft along the York Road.

It will make commuting parts of the route much more attractive, safer and more comfortable, as well as leading to health benefits for individuals and for the planet, as once constructed it will be carbon dioxide free.