Building work has started this week on the first phase of Cardiff’s Roath Park Cycleway.

As well as delivering a new cycleway within Roath Park Recreational Ground and improving the footpaths, the work will also see improvements to footways, highway junctions,and bus travel, as well as significantly increasing the capacity of the drainage system around Penylan Library and Community Centre which was prone to surface water flooding.

The new footpaths in the playing field will also include drainage measures which will address some of the existing issues where some footpaths flood and are impassable when it rains.

When completed the wider cycle route will run from the north of Roath Park, near Cardiff High School, to Newport Road, where it will connect with another cycleway (Cycleway 2) that will run to Rumney, Llanrumney,and then onto St Mellon Business Park.

Cllr Dan De’Ath, Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport,said: “This scheme is a significant investment into cycling and walking routes in this part of the city, providing better facilities for recreational cyclists, as well as those that want to go shopping, go to work, or go to school.

“The council consulted on this scheme with local residents and representatives in March 2022 and again in December 2022/January 2023. Following the feedback, all comments were carefully considered, and specific design changes were made as appropriate. When installing a cycleway such as this, it is essential that we strike the balance between different transport modes, to ensure that cyclists and pedestrians are safe, bus travel is improved, and junctions are re-modelled to ensure motorists are still able to get to their chosen destination.

“The council is committed to improving cycling and walking routes across the city and this scheme is a further step towards developing a city-wide, segregated cycle network, that will interconnect with public transport routes, to provide a credible alternative to travelling by private car.

“Working with our contractor, Knights Brown, the scheme also has significant social value which is estimated to be in the region of £125,000. This includes new jobs, apprenticeship opportunities, maximising the use of local suppliers, Into work sessions, work experience, student placements, events at schools, community projects and volunteering opportunities.”

The first phase of the new Roath Park cycleway scheme includes:

A new segregated cycleway between Wellfield Road and Alder Road and improved footpaths in the playing field
Improvements to Penylan Library and Community Centre car park
Significant improvements to the drainage system around the community centre using sustainable drainage techniques and new collection chambers.
Improvements to the junction of Wellfield Road, Marlborough Road, Penylan Road and Ninian Road to improve pedestrian waiting areas, junction capacity and bus travel
A new cycleway crossing across this junction that will connect the existing Wellfield Road pop-up cycleway with the new Roath Park cycleway
Replacing the priority narrowings on Ty-Draw Road with four ramped up pedestrian crossing points
Improvements to bus travel, including a new bus stop travelling northbound on Ninian Road and building out some of the existing stops to improve access
Improving the zebra crossing on Ninian Road at Pen-Y-Wain Road and building a shared footway for cyclists and pedestrians towards Roath Park Primary School.

Cllr De’Ath continued: “The scheme is expected to take 35 weeks to complete. As with all development there will be an element of disruption and we would like to thank the public for their patience while the project is undertaken.”