Is Arbroath embracing its new £14m cycle track?

A £14m active travel path running through Arbroath has opened, after 18 months of controversy over its construction in the town.

The “A Place for Everyone” project – which is designed to promote wheeling, walking and cycling – has cut into previously dualled parts of the A92, effectively halving the amount of road space.

The majority of the cost was covered by a Scottish Government-backed Sustrans scheme.

£10.7m of the £14m 'A Place for Everyone' project was covered by public money from Sustrans. — £10.7m of the £14m ‘A Place for Everyone’ project was covered by public money from Sustrans. STV News

It’s designed to increase footfall in the town, make Arbroath more accessible, and encourage more environmentally-friendly modes of travel.

However, some local residents and businesses have questioned whether 18 months’ worth of disruption in the town centre, while the path was getting built, was worth it.

Arbroath's famous Pleasureland Amusements are at one end of the town's new active travel path. — Arbroath’s famous Pleasureland Amusements are at one end of the town’s new active travel path. STV News

Todd O’Brien, who manages the Pleasureland Amusements near the town’s beach, said: “It was a solution in search of a problem.

“I don’t think the demand from cyclists was there in the first place, and I think that the existing road served cyclists not too badly.”

Some businesses at the other end of the town faced the longest-running restrictions.

Stacey Caird, who runs a massage therapy clinic at Guthrie Port, said: “It affected me, and many businesses in the town, quite badly.

“I mean, they closed complete access to our road for six months, giving us three days’ notice.

The dual carriageway that previously ran through Arbroath has been turned into a single carriageway. STV News

“I think they’ve done a lovely job, but it’s just a shame to get there, what’s been lost and what’s happened in the town, it’s going to take years to recover from that.”

Councillor Tommy Stewart, Communities Convenor at Angus Council, told STV News he understood that businesses had faced some disruption but that contractors had kept that “to a minimum”.

He said: “Any infrastructure project that’s going to be major like this, is always going to have some form of disruption at it.

“There were people against it, but there were also plenty of people for it.

“You go across to Europe now and they’ve got these cycle and walking lanes everywhere. This now joins in with the National Cycle Network and it could be expanded further.”