City of Wolverhampton Council and West Midlands Railway have secured grant funding for the construction of a new cycle hub offering more than 100 spaces for cycles at Wolverhampton Interchange.
The £525,000 hub will provide 92 undercover and 18 uncovered spaces - and will also feature controlled access, LED lighting and CCTV security.
It will be located next to the railway station multi-storey car park, near the pedestrian footbridge to the city centre – and forms part of the city’s award-winning £150million Interchange development delivering improvements to bus, tram, train and cycle connectivity.
Funding for the hub consists of a £472,500-award from UK walking and cycling charity Sustrans, as part of the Department for Transport’s programme, Cycle Rail, with the remaining amount mostly coming from the Government’s £1million Towns Fund Accelerator Grant for the city.
Final design work on the hub will now begin and pre-fabrication will be carried out off-site before on-site works start in June and are completed by autumn.
City of Wolverhampton Council Cabinet Member for City Economy, Councillor Stephen Simkins, said: “The Interchange is a jewel in the crown of our city and part of the multi-billion-pound regeneration that is taking place across our city.
“The new cycle hub gives people more options and encourages this healthy, clean and green form of transport.
“As a city we are committed to improving our infrastructure for more sustainable transport and this scheme complements our ongoing work to improve and grow our cycling network.
“The completed Interchange will connect train, tram and bus in one place and will ultimately provide a gateway to our city that we can all enjoy using - and be proud of.”
The addition of the cycle hub to encourage cycling will also help Wolverhampton lower carbon emissions by enabling people to engage in active travel.
Brenda Lawrence, Head of Stations for West Midlands Railway, added: “These superb new cycle facilities will play a key role in the Interchange development which is transforming how passengers travel to and from Wolverhampton.
“We are fully committed to encouraging sustainable modes of transport wherever possible and we’re making a significant investment in cycling facilities across the railway network to support this aim.
“With increased numbers expected to start using the railway again later this year this scheme comes at just the right time as we look forward to welcoming customers back on board.”
