Corby A road set for £1m cycle lane improvements

Corby’s cycling infrastructure could be in line for a £1.1m boost if a Government funding bid comes off.

Northamptonshire County Council has put a cycle route along Cottingham Road between Westcott Way and Abington Road on its wish list as part of a bid to the Emergency Active Travel Fund, which the government has created in order to get more people walking and cycling in the wake of Covid-19.

If approved work could start as early as November and be completed by April.

The funding bid, which also includes a scheme for cycle lanes in Billing Road in Northampton, says: “The A427 Cottingham Road provides one of the main accesses into Corby town centre from the residential areas which are predominately located in the western part of the town. The road is a wide single carriageway (9m+) with a 40mph speed limit. Safety concerns have led to significant sections having the centre hatched to discourage overtaking.

“While preparation of a Local Cycling and Walking Investment Plan for Corby has not yet started, Cottingham Road has been identified as one of the key desire lines for cyclists, connecting large residential estates and the 4,400 dwelling sustainable urban extension with outline planning permission at Corby West with the town centre and the industrial area further east.

“The proposal is to replace the current sub-standard shared use pedestrian/cycle facility with a permanent on-road segregated cycle lanes in each direction. This will be made possible by moving motor traffic towards the currently hatched-off road centre. Owing to the relatively high speed, the exact method of segregation remains to be determined following a detailed study. Because of the very limited number of accesses to the road this will produce a high standard continuous cycle way provision.

“An allowance is included within the cost of the scheme for the installation of a number of permanent cycle monitoring sites to assess the impacts of the scheme, and also to monitor any impacts on motor traffic.”

It adds: “Cottingham Road in Corby is both a main radial route towards Corby town centre and the route from traffic to the industrial areas in the east of the town. The proposal here is to create segregated cycle lanes on either side of the 40mph single carriageway road. The Cottingham Road links the town centre, via a primary school and secondary school, to new 4,000 home development west of Corby.”

There are also £800,000 funds available to create cycle improvements between the Tesco supermarket in Oakley Road and the town centre.