The completion of the first major upgrade to one of Liverpool's key active travel corridors has been hailed as "a game-changer" for the city's population.
The historic Liverpool Loop Line, laid out on a former disused railway that closed in 1964, was originally finished in 2000 after a 12-year reclamation programme. But many of its access points proved to be a barrier.
Now Liverpool City Council, together with its partner Sustrans, has completed the six-month long task of updating 15 entrances along the 11 mile traffic-free route to improve accessibility for all users.
The historic Liverpool Loop Line, laid out on a former disused railway that closed in 1964, was originally finished in 2000 after a 12-year reclamation programme. But many of its access points proved to be a barrier.
Now Liverpool City Council, together with its partner Sustrans, has completed the six-month long task of updating 15 entrances along the 11 mile traffic-free route to improve accessibility for all users.
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00:00 The completion of the first major upgrade to one of Liverpool's key active
00:05 travel corridors has been hailed as a game-changer for the city's population.
00:09 "I think it really came into its own during the lockdown when people
00:14 couldn't go far from their houses everyone just started walking up and down the loop line
00:17 and since then I've noticed how much busier it is." The historic Liverpool
00:21 loop line laid out on a former disused railway that was closed in 1964 was
00:26 originally finished in 2000 after a 12-year reclamation program. However, many
00:32 of its access points proved to be a barrier. "What we need to do is get more
00:36 people cycling, more people cycling on short journeys as well. There's a huge
00:39 proportion of our journeys can be walked or cycled within 10-15 minutes but you
00:43 know if you're going to do that on the roads in the first instance you know
00:46 it's quite scary and it's very off-putting so that is like you know a
00:49 mental and probably a safety barrier as well as well as the physical barriers
00:53 we've removed from this so this is provides you know a nice long pleasant
00:56 cycle for people commuting across this part of Liverpool." Now Liverpool
01:00 City Council together with its partner Sustrans has completed the six-month
01:04 long task of updating 15 entrances along the 11-mile traffic-free route to
01:10 improve accessibility for all users. "One of the things you do find is you'd like
01:16 to go places and sometimes there's impediments there when you want to go
01:21 whether it's a cave that's three inches high or other impediments where you
01:27 can't get off the cave at all. Having the accessibility at different points along
01:32 the loop line really great you can go from A to B know where you're going and
01:37 get off at the certain point you want to get to. I mean it's not perfect don't get
01:40 me wrong but it's accessible because I've been to plenty of places where they
01:46 say it's accessible and actually it isn't. So I can assure you 100% it is
01:51 accessible. Little challenges here and there but it's work in progress."
01:55 Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to benefit from the upgrade
01:59 especially those with wheelchairs, prams, mobility scooters and adapted cycles as
02:04 well as horse riders. "The important thing about all the new accesses that Sustrans
02:08 and the council are putting in is that up until this point the loop line has been
02:13 really really good for cycling and for walking and running but if you're a
02:18 wheelchair user or if you're a boogie pusher then a lot of the gates are very
02:23 difficult to navigate and what everyone's realized is putting barriers
02:27 up does not stop anti-social behavior all it actually does is exclude other
02:31 users." The hidden corridor winds through the suburban heartlands of the city from
02:36 Hailwood in the south to Aintree in the north with more than half a million
02:41 people living within 20 minutes of the trail. "As a cyclist particularly in a
02:45 traffic-free zone then you're so much more relaxed as you move from A to B so
02:50 there's time to say hello, there's time to chat." The route is also on the National
02:55 Cycle Network and forms part of the award-winning Trans Pennine Trail with
02:59 connections at Aintree taking people through to Southport.