Multimillion pound travel upgrade boosts active travel on Tayside

An active travel project is encouraging more people to walk and cycle between two coastal communities on Tayside.

Some £18m has been spent upgrading a a continuous 2.5 mile off-road route between Broughty Ferry and Monifieth.

The work was funded by the Scottish Government through Sustrans Scotland’s Places for Everyone programme and has taken five years to complete.

Councillor Steven Rome from Dundee City Council said: “It allows people of any age and any ability to get out and be active and socialise and I don’t think you can put a price on that.

“I don’t think you can make a better investment in capital than infrastructure and what we’ve got here is something that’s going to be here for generations potentially, and as I say, encourage people to get out and be active.”

Access has also improved for the Cycling Without Age trishaws, which take people who struggle with their mobility on tours along the Tay.

Vivien Scott of Cycling Without Age Scotland said: “With the new pathway there are a lot more people walking along the seafront so there’s a very wide path, you’ve got room for people passing you, people with dogs, people on bikes, you also have an outrider with you, you have someone on an electric bike, so the new cycle path the whole way along is a huge advantage and it makes it simple for everybody.”

New artwork and landscaping form part of the project, with the heritage of a woodturning windmill that once stood in Broughty Ferry built into a public garden.

Visual artist Louise Kirby said: “I took the idea of the windmill, the movement of the blades and capture that kind of movement and energy and played with pattern within the design, and each gate is different, so there are three different gates and each one has a different feel.

“It makes it more welcoming because a lot of people think of this as a secret space, a lot of people don’t know about this and I guess it invites people in.”