£2.6m investment in new cycle lane is "misleading" and actually funding road resurfacing for drivers, report suggests

A newspaper in Northern Ireland has challenged the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) over potentially misleading reporting of active travel spending — the government department having told the public that it is spending £2.6m on a cycle lane project, only for it to since emerge that a major part of the supposed "active travel" investment is for "resurfacing of the carriageway".

It is a report that was published by the Belfast Telegraph on Tuesday, the newspaper questioning the DfI's communication and spending around a £2.6m scheme on a 1.6-mile stretch of the A2 Clooney Road near Ballykelly.

Works have already begun and are expected to last 33 weeks in total. However, while Minister for Infrastructure John O'Dowd was keen to celebrate the "significant investment in active travel infrastructure" and the "ongoing commitment to increasing opportunities for walking, wheeling and cycling", the newspaper has questioned where the money for "resurfacing of the carriageway" is coming from.

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An 'Environmental Information Regulations 2004 request for details of the active travel aspects' of the scheme can be read online and the DfI states in response that "the sole objective of the Clooney Road scheme is to improve the active travel infrastructure facility between Ballykelly and Greysteel (2.6km), therefore the total cost of the scheme will be met from the active travel budget".

The response continues: "The realignment of the road will enable a three-metre-wide shared footway with a two-metre-wide buffer zone to be provided in the space which has been created, as can be seen in the attached drawings. Provision of high-quality active travel infrastructure along existing roads, in some cases, means having to move and reprofile the existing carriageway, including replacing kerb lines and drainage. 

"This is the case on the Clooney Road scheme, where the carriageway needs to be realigned and reprofiled to facilitate the active travel infrastructure improvements.  The resultant resurfacing is a necessary consequence of delivering the active travel improvements and cannot, therefore, be considered in isolation."

 The Belfast Telegraph said it wanted to question why the DfI was describing the entire £2.6m as coming from the active travel budget "when most of the work relates to a road for cars and lorries". The newspaper stated that it "also asked whether this is the way in which DfI regularly apportions expenditure, describing road-building as 'active travel'."

The statement received in response outlined the same points made in replying to the EIR request and added that it is "normal practice within the department" that "contributions from the various budgets would be combined to deliver the scheme in the most efficient manner" but that this "was not the case on this occasion and it would not be practical to wait until the carriageway is in poor condition at all sites before the department would consider carrying out any improvement works".

Replying to a final question about where else the department had used active travel funds for "projects which are in fact roads for cars and lorries", the DfI briefly responded with a short reply that the Belfast Telegraph suggested "did not answer the question".

"Without the realignment of the road, an active travel scheme could not be delivered. Therefore, this is active travel expenditure," the DfI had said.

The newspaper concluded that the situation "raises questions about whether the department has misleadingly reported other spending" and said "there is reason to believe the cycle lane component of the Clooney Road scheme is a very small part of the £2.6m bill".

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Back in September, Minister O'Dowd welcomed the scheme, with works commencing at the end of that month.

"This is a significant investment in active travel infrastructure and is part of my ongoing commitment to increasing opportunities for walking, wheeling and cycling," he said. "This scheme will provide an attractive, high quality active travel route along our scenic north coast providing benefits for the local communities of Ballykelly and Greysteel and enhancing opportunities for tourism in the area.

"I would like to thank local residents and road users for their patience while this work is carried out and ask that they slow down in the vicinity of the work and abide by the temporary traffic management arrangements which are in place to ensure their own safety and the safety of our workers and contractors."

Last week, the DfI announced the launch of its new Active Travel Delivery Plan, which aims to deliver over 200km worth of "high quality" cycling and walking infrastructure during the next decade. The announcement did not pass without an outspoken councillor claiming the government is "prioritising active travel over safety" and suggesting a new bike lane is so wide he "thought it was a dual-carriageway they were building".