Plan to transform centre of Thurso with active travel corridor including segregated cycle lanes
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Thurso could be set for a major remodelling of one of its main thoroughfares as Highland Council wants to create an active travel corridor that runs right to the heart of the town centre.
A series of five projects – or interventions as the council calls them – extend from Janetstown to where Princes Street meets the A9. The aim is to connect residential areas, schools, colleges and retail premises.
Officers want the green light to go ahead with a range of bids to the Scottish Government to fund measures across the Highlands that are estimated to cost between £97 million and £171 million.
In all, there are 10 projects for Thurso and two for Wick that could be sent to the government to compete for cash from the Spaces for Everyone and Active Travel Transport Project funds.
It is part of a major push on active travel prioritisation by the council which will be debated at the economy and infrastructure committee on Thursday on the “multi-year planning of infrastructure delivery”.
The scoring, done by Edinburgh-based transport consultants ARUP, delivered a list of the top 10 interventions that scored 90 and above and have therefore been selected as top tier interventions.
Thurso was by far the most represented in the top tier with four projects – while Wick has one in the second tier – with the former being by far the most ambitious with five connected initiatives.
ARUP’s scoring for the best projects saw a scheme to transform Ormlie Road come out top, followed by a crossing at the high school and college, then Princes Street, followed by Janetstown, while Ormlie Road train station work was considered a second-tier investment.
The first project is based on Princes Street as the council looks to create “mixed strategic infrastructure” including a “segregated cycleway and placemaking”.
That would link a cycle lane with the second project on Ormlie Road which would also, through the third intervention, see remodelling of the junction at the train station and a fourth which would see a crossing at the high school and college.
The corridor would then extend towards Janetstown where – like Ormlie Road and Princes Street – there would be a segregated cycle lane and infrastructure. In total the council is seeking to develop more than two miles for active travel in the town.
According to council papers the proposals “could be packaged” jointly to “create a long strategic active travel corridor through the centre of Thurso”.
This “would connect schools, the train station, retail, residential areas, North Highland College, the hospital, and residential areas to the west such as Janetstown”.
The Wick projects, though not insignificant, are on a smaller scale.
The first could signify a major change with a low traffic neighbourhood planned from Staxigoe to George Street.
The second intervention for Wick is a safe crossing point at Noss Primary School, which it is felt "could be packaged" with the Staxigoe-George Street project to support the low traffic neighbourhood.
