July 24 2023

The Highland Council has lifted the lid on a batch of new images showcasing its design intent for Inverness's Academy Street, in a bid to unlock Sustrans funding.

Angling for a slice of the Scottish Government's Places for Everyone fund the proposed works form a central plank of the council's vision for the city with widened pavements of up to 5m, new bus lanes helping to reduce the number of private vehicles on the route to less than 2,000 per day.

This will be achieved by redirecting traffic to neighbouring streets to promote walking and cycling, in a reorganisation of roads undertaken by the council's project design unit.

In a proposal document, the council wrote: "Walking and wheeling are already the dominant ways that people access Academy Street, despite space provided for these being much less than that for motorised vehicles. Survey data indicates that around 75% of motorised traffic uses Academy Street as a through route across the city.

"If we redesign the street to discourage through-traffic, volumes can be significantly reduced and the street can be better used by people walking, wheeling and cycling..."

Feedback is invited until 28 August ahead of a decision on whether to proceed with a funding application.  

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