SIX.. Area-wide solutions: Primary cycle routes

Case study

The Chisholm Trail: a cycling super-highway

The Chisholm Trail, joining Addenbrooke’s to the Science Park would attract many new cyclists, and would replace many 40-minute car journeys with a great 10-minute cycle route and open up many areas

The Chisholm Trail is our proposal for a major new cycleway that would run roughly alongside the railway, joining Addenbrooke’s to the Science Park and beyond. It would attract many new cyclists, and make many journeys that take perhaps 40 minutes by car cycleable in 10 minutes. Reducing vehicle volumes by just 10% results in much greater reductions in congestion, as is clear when schools are on holiday.

The trail would link the south of the city directly with the cycle provision which is being created as part of the development of the Guided Bus. The proposed trail would follow the railway through the east side of the city linking areas of high-density housing, employment and leisure facilities. Hubs such as Addenbrooke’s Hospital, the Science Park and the train station will all lie on the route, creating a cycling super-highway.

The Chisholm Trail plan is included in the Local Plan document and in the Demand Management proposals issued in autumn 2007. The Campaign wants to see a feasibility study done to identify the relevant landowners, pin down costs and begin to get bodies such as the county and city councils working to make this vision a reality.

As a group, we have been monitoring planning applications to make sure that none of the route gets blocked by a new building. So far we been successful in getting potentially problematic plans altered and the route has been safeguarded.

The route is a great example of a high-profile scheme which will cut journey times, give people a genuine, realistic alternative to car use and help the city cope with the population increases which will take place in the coming years.