Kirkby Valley Greenway
Kirkby residents have long struggled to get around locally on foot and by bike due to constant heavy traffic at the Kirkby Row Island roundabout and the East Lancashire Road.
However, this will soon be a trouble of the past with the new shared use pathways, upgraded crossing points and improvements to junctions that are planned as part of the walking and cycling scheme developments.
The traffic-free greenway through Millbrook Park, will provide new access into Millbrook, Kirkby CE Primary Schools and into Kirkby Town Centre with the provision of a toucan crossing at Kirkby Row. The scheme makes use of off-road links along Valley Road to the disused greenway through to Ribblers Lane, and will also use quiet roads. The final section of the scheme provides six toucan crossings at the East Lancashire Road-Moorgate Road junction, forming a key link into Knowsley Industrial Park.
Re-connecting Kirkby with green space
Kirkby Town Centre will be re-connected to beautiful rural countryside, giving people the chance to enjoy the relaxing green spaces and enjoy walking and cycling for leisure as well as providing an essential link for others wanting to travel sustainably to work and school.
Local people will have the opportunity to access Millbrook Park and a new play pathfinder centre at Mil Dam. The route will pass over Valley Road and the East Lancashire Road whilst providing a link along - side the M57 and eventually providing a link onto the Trans-Pennine-Trail creating a link to Jaguar in Halewood. It's hoped that further, additional paths will be created from this new route in the future, in the local areas of Kirkby and Tower Hill.
Wider plans
The new walking and cycling paths, which should be completed in late 2011, forms part of wider plans in Kirkby to deliver an improvement network of walking and cycling links, helping people make local journeys without the need for a car. Knowsley has successfully received funding from Local Sustainable Transport fund to deliver even more walking and cycling routes in the area.
Latest News
Works update
Work on the Kirkby Valley Greenway is now very close to being fully completed and local residents are already thrilled with the benefits that the project is bringing to their community.
New walking and cycling routes to Millbrook Primary and Kirkby C of E school are now finished and the number of children cycling and walking to school has immediately risen.
The greenway between Valley Road and Ribblers Lane is also complete, the area being transformed from an uninviting, over grown path to a wide, light and welcoming route.
Ideas to further develop the new route are currently being discussed by local council officials. Suggestions include extending the route south to provide walking and cycling links to the local villages of Knowsley and Stockbridge with the route continuing into Liverpool via Croxteth Park.
Portrait Bench
As part of a unique national public art project, the new route will have a Portrait Bench installed alongside a section of pathway. The Portrait Bench is a simple bench that will feature three life-size effigies of characters chosen by the local community to represent the culture and history of the area.
Work on the Kirkby Portrait Bench is already underway with plans for the bench to be situated beside the cycleway on Valley Road. The three characters have been chosen and have been sent to an artist to be turned into the finished articles. The characters are a factory worker, a nurse and a school child, they represent the local area’s past, present and future.
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