Walking and Cycling

Carlisle Cycle Map

A free pocket-sized walking and cycling guide for Carlisle has been produced aimed at encouraging people to walk and cycle as a way of getting to work, school, the shops and for leisure purposes. The map is available from Carlisle libraries, Carlisle Tourist Information Centre, and the Sands Leisure Centre.

• Download a PDF copy of the Walking and Cycling guide

Connect2 "Missing link" to be constructed

The go ahead has been given for a £300,000 scheme to link two sections of cycleway that will ultimately form part of the Carlisle Connect2 scheme. When the link is completed, it will be possible to cycle and walk from Viaduct Estate Road, Carlisle to Dalston Town Centre entirely traffic free except for a short stretch of access road to the Stead McAlpin factory in Cummersdale. At present, cycleway users have to leave the riverside route in Carlisle, and take a circuitous route via Denton Street which when travelling from south to north involves two crossings of a busy road.

Members of the County Council’s Local Committee for Carlisle at a recent meeting said they were taking advantage of a ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity while the Environment Agency was carrying out its flood defence work along the River Caldew. The cycleway will be a link between Metcalfe Street and Lime Street.

The Denton Holme missing link scheme is one of four major projects that will be required to complete a continuous cycleway across the city between Currock and Kingmoor. The other three (in order from south to north) are: the Currock Bridge ramp, the Castle Way ramp and approach path, and the new Eden Crossing from the Sheepmount to Stanwix.

Connect2 is a UK-wide project that will transform local travel in 79 cities, towns and villages across the UK by creating new walking and cycling routes for the journeys we all make every day. The vision for the Carlisle Connect2 scheme is to create a virtually traffic-free north-south route through the city.

The new cycleway will offer a number of environmental, transport and recreational benefits including:

• access from residential areas to employment areas on either side of the River Eden;
• safer routes from residential areas to educational, social and retail facilities in the city centre;
• an opportunity to improve air quality on Scotland Road due to more people travelling by bike and on foot;
• improved health and recreation through access to the rivers in the urban area and links to other green spaces.