Our team met local councillors on the Castleford Greenway last week to mark the start of our work on the next phase of a £1.2m scheme to enable more people to cycle and walk in West Yorkshire.
From left to right; Kevin Bamber, AMCO Giffen; John Davis, Wakefield Council; Steven Best, Sustrans; Cllr Kim Groves Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Transport Committee and Cllr Peter Box, Leader of Wakefield Council
Cllr Kim Groves, Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Transport Committee, and Cllr Peter Box, Leader of Wakefield Council, visited a section of the traffic-free path between Castleford and Methley, where we will be resurfacing a section of the route, opening up access and installing signage.
The work is delivered through the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s CityConnect programme, in partnership with Wakefield Council, to encourage more people to travel by bike or on foot.
The Castleford Greenway is part of Route 69 on the National Cycle Network and when complete will run 16km from Castleford to Wakefield. We will be working on this section of the path as part of our work to develop and improve the Network in Yorkshire, providing missing links in existing local infrastructure.
The first section of the new Castleford to Wakefield Greenway, a 2km stretch between Fairies Hill Lock and Methley Bridge in Castleford, opened in March 2018 and recent work by AMCO Giffen extended the Castleford Greenway over a new foot and cycle bridge across the Hallam Line.
Take a look at the footage of the bridge being lifted in at the Castleford Greenway below:
Cllr Kim Groves, Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Transport Committee, said: “We’re delighted to be working in partnership with Leeds and Wakefield Councils and Sustrans on the next phase of the Castleford Greenway, which will provide more people travelling by bike or on foot with a safe, scenic traffic-free route all year round.
“This route provides a vital link for the people of Castleford, making it easier to access Wakefield, the Trans Pennine Trail and the Wakefield Wheel.
“As well as providing missing links in local cycling and walking infrastructure, the Castleford Greenway – alongside other schemes across our region – are helping open up access to some of our best countryside, and once complete will be an exemplar scheme nationally.”
Cllr Peter Box, Leader of Wakefield Council, said: “This is an important piece of work to further enable residents from Wakefield to Castleford to use sustainable transport as it will provide additional cycling and walking paths.
Steven Best, Sustrans’ construction manager for the project, said: “We’re excited to be working with CityConnect on developing this important new section of the Castleford Greenway and a key route for the National Cycle Network in Yorkshire.
"We’ll be working on surfacing the route, opening up access and installing signage on the path. The new completed Greenway will allow access to a traffic-free path for all abilities to walk and cycle, including people on mobility scooters or adapted bicycles.
"It will be a fantastic example of what we aim to achieve long term across the Network as part of our work throughout the UK.”
The Castleford Greenway project is due to be completed this winter.
