Revamp of Glasgow city centre roads to include new bike lanes part of £6.5m contract

A revamp of roads to the north of Glasgow city centre, which includes new bike lanes, is expected to start in February — with a £6.5m contract set to be awarded.

Glasgow City Council is planning to transform Cowcaddens Road and Dobbie’s Loan by resurfacing both footways and carriageways and creating new cycle lanes.

They will also extend footways, provide new kerbing and public realm improvements.

Work will be carried out under the Avenues programme, which has been billed by the council as the biggest transformation of Glasgow’s public realm in decades.

Councillors will be asked to approve awarding a contract worth £6.47m for the scheme to Wills Bros Civil Engineering Ltd when they meet on Thursday.

Funding has been provided by the Scottish Government through walking, wheeling and cycling charity Sustrans. The contract would run for 71 weeks from the date of award, with work due to start around the middle of February.

Construction teams will start work on Duke Street, John Knox Street and South Portland Street in January. The schemes at Cowcaddens Road and Dobbie’s Loan are then due to start in February.

All of the projects are expected to be completed in late winter and spring 2026.

In total, £21m has been provided for Avenues Plus schemes, which build on the wider City Deal-funded Avenues programme.

As part of the City Deal, a £1bn infrastructure programme funded by both the UK and Scottish governments, the Avenues projects received £115m.

It is hoped the work will better connect the city centre with neighbourhoods on its fringes.

Cllr Angus Millar, SNP, the council’s convener for climate, transport and city centre recovery, previously said the projects are vital in creating safe, accessible and attractive routes in and out of the city centre.

He added: “Some disruption is inevitable over the 15 months of construction, particularly given the importance of some of the routes. But the council and our construction partners will ensure we do all we can to keep that to the minimum and keep Glaswegians and businesses informed.

“At the end we’ll have the high quality public realm and transport infrastructure a modern European city like Glasgow deserves.”

Work at Duke Street and John Knox Street will be carried out by Rainton Construction with a budget of almost £8m. The South Portland Street project is expected to cost around £2.3m.