Near Monyash

Active travel is just as important in rural areas as in urban ones. While distances may be longer and traffic speeds higher, and thus scarier, there are far fewer transport options. Distances may be too far to realistically walk and there are probably no buses. Taxis are expensive and another family member may have taken the car. E-bikes are probably a game changer here.

The Flitch Way in spring

Some rural areas have networks of attractive low traffic lanes but like urban areas the main problems come from traffic particularly if there is a lot of it and it is moving quickly. Off highway routes are seen as the key but paths that are completely away from road are frequently not properly connected to the surrounding area. For Uttlesford Council we showed how the Flitch Way, a path on a disused railway, could be better tied into the local area so as to make a core spine route to local housing development.

A14 under construction. It separated Hilton from Fenstanton and St Ives

Major roads can be barriers to rural active travel. Both because they are dangerous to walk or cycle along or because they are dangerous or impossible to cross. Very often alternative routes to find a safe crossing point can be lengthy and suppress the propensity to cycle. At Chiverton Cross on the A30 we demonstrated how a proposed subway would have made journeys unrealistically long and that a bridge dropped from the major highway scheme should be reinstated. And in Cambridgeshire residents in Hilton asked us to find safe ways to walk or cycle across the new A14.

Clay Lane near Burtonwood built on land taken from the adjacent field

Sometimes there is room on a roadside verge to make a cycletrack. The residents of Hilton proposed halving the width of a lane so as to be able to include an active travel route. And in a similar vein when Warrington Council built a cycletrack along Clay Lane near Birchwood they came to us to demonstrate that the route was safe.

Lower Icknield Way near Longwick

Sometimes dense streets in urban areas can feel oppressive; something you can only escape from with difficulty. But rural areas can trap people as well. Longwick in Buckinghamshire, although really close to urban areas, was isolated by busy roads and a lack of public transport. We investigated ways of overcoming the isolation for non-car owners in the car dependent community.

Clun Gwyn, Ystafellte, Bannau Brycheiniog

Cars are useful in rural areas but they bring problems with them especially in tourist areas such as the Brecon Beacons and honeypot villages such as Tal-y-bont on Usk

It’s bleak out there. Gospel Pass on the potential Offa’s Dyke Cycle Route

Fancy a long ride in the countryside? Well we have an Offa you can’t refuse.