Streetscape improvements get underway at Cowcaddens Road and Dobbie’s Loan
February 17 2025
Glasgow City Council has initiated the next phase of its Avenues public realm programme with the start of improvement works to Cowcaddens Road and Dobbie’s Loan.
A new pedestrian junction will be formed between Buchanan Bus Station and Glasgow Caledonian University, along with bi-directional and segregated cycle lanes, improved junctions and crossings. Both streets will also benefit from 59 new trees and rain gardens to help green the environment and mitigate against flooding.
Other elements of the scheme include the infilling of a dank pedestrian underpass beneath Cowcaddens Road, to be replaced by a new stair. A revised layout of the Cowcaddens Road / Port Dundas Road junction, will see its north side closed to through traffic, excepting a southbound only lane for emergency services.
Carole Patrick, portfolio director at Sustrans, said: "With nearly half of Glasgow households not having access to a car, this phase of Avenues Plus is an important step towards giving more people fairer, more cost-effective choices for short, everyday journeys. People in Glasgow want to walk, wheel and cycle more. But too many Glaswegians still simply don't feel confident and safe enough in getting around the city under their own steam. Delivering these new, protected routes and improvements along Cowcaddens Road and Dobbie’s Loan will give more people this reassurance and choice.”
Part of the £21m Avenues Plus programme, funded by the Scottish Government, the project is expected to be completed in spring 2026.
Existing greenery and trees between Dundasvale and Cowcaddens Road will be replaced
New benches and street furniture will also be installed
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18 Comments
#1 Posted by EM0 on 17 Feb 2025 at 11:30 AM
These are some of the best avenues visualisations yet. However, like Cambridge St, the CGI visuals and the finished product does not align..... I can only hope it does with this section!
#2 Posted by David on 17 Feb 2025 at 12:27 PM
You'll no doubt get people blocking the road dropping of people at Buchanan Bus Station - not least because the drop-off facility down the ramp is woefully inadaquate. A lay-by would solve that.
#3 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 17 Feb 2025 at 13:02 PM
This is the sort of crap -- middle class hobby horsing / ego tripping / wasteful spending in straightened times -- that gets nutters like Donny John elected.
The hobbling of the existing road network will cause ructions when it meets the needs of real people.
Sustrans need to get real -- come out of their middle class enclaves / student level mindsets and see what is happening to working class areas in the city as car ownership increases in leaps and bounds.
Plus the "city" is not the whole story what about the real "city" as in the metropolitan region?
Or do we not count -- no wonder the city centre is in free fall. Collapsing under the weight of student politics stupidity that is currently running the show and spending what little money we have.
Not good.
Transport 1400 is back in town.
The hobbling of the existing road network will cause ructions when it meets the needs of real people.
Sustrans need to get real -- come out of their middle class enclaves / student level mindsets and see what is happening to working class areas in the city as car ownership increases in leaps and bounds.
Plus the "city" is not the whole story what about the real "city" as in the metropolitan region?
Or do we not count -- no wonder the city centre is in free fall. Collapsing under the weight of student politics stupidity that is currently running the show and spending what little money we have.
Not good.
Transport 1400 is back in town.
#4 Posted by Gay Gordon on 17 Feb 2025 at 13:19 PM
Who on earth is going to look after all this 'stuff'. The Council is struggling and can't even properly maintain the green space that already exists! The maintenance of parks and open spaces, eg rain gardens, needs to be a statutory duty.
#5 Posted by FBOT Hater on 17 Feb 2025 at 13:40 PM
#3 On yer bike tubby, it would be good for your physical and mental health. It seems rotting away complaining at any attempts to improve the city is not doing you any good.
looks great, concerns about maintenance are valid though
looks great, concerns about maintenance are valid though
#6 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 17 Feb 2025 at 14:47 PM
Rain gardens vs Puddle makers -- Discuss !?!
Fad that won't last.
Fad that won't last.
#7 Posted by Ross Mitchell on 17 Feb 2025 at 14:51 PM
#3 - Surely you've noticed that all forward thinking cities are now adapting to reduce car traffic and enable more active travel?
The only sensible critique would be to lament the poor quality of our public transport network to support this.
The only sensible critique would be to lament the poor quality of our public transport network to support this.
#8 Posted by Lovely on 17 Feb 2025 at 15:03 PM
A marginal improvement on the usual diabolically badly designed cycle lanes on these things- still an F minus overall. The existing level change and trees are completely ignored. The "Sim City" aesthetic says it all. Who'd sit on that rain garden bench? No sense of space or shelter whatsoever. Honestly, just leaving it alone would be an improvement on this brainless scheme.
Deleting the "dank" underpass? Surprisingly useful if you ever actually walked anywhere yourself, rather than just aspiring for "poor" people to do more walking....
Deleting the "dank" underpass? Surprisingly useful if you ever actually walked anywhere yourself, rather than just aspiring for "poor" people to do more walking....
#9 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 17 Feb 2025 at 20:16 PM
Enabling more active travel -- how about fixing the pavements / repairing the public realm / filling in the potholes / clearing out decades of litter that lurk in not so forgotten corners.
£21mill "Avenues Plus" programme -- funny set of priorities given the state of the public realm we already have,
At best award fodder from middle class attention seekers / hobby horsers.
How about we fix the open air sewers around Lochend Road and Commonhead Road -- real progress for real people instead of faddist nonsense for middle aged lycra models -- chesterfield couch edition.
£21mill "Avenues Plus" programme -- funny set of priorities given the state of the public realm we already have,
At best award fodder from middle class attention seekers / hobby horsers.
How about we fix the open air sewers around Lochend Road and Commonhead Road -- real progress for real people instead of faddist nonsense for middle aged lycra models -- chesterfield couch edition.
#10 Posted by George on 17 Feb 2025 at 22:03 PM
Ridiculous woke nonsense, call it for what it is. Sorry but this is Glasgow where its heaving it down with rain most of the year, no one wants to cycle or walk more than they have to, and you certainly dont see many doing it. Meanwhile though lets spend £21Million we dont have blocking a good road and making cycle lanes that will mostly be empty apart from Uber Eats drivers.
Bring back some common sense, folks still need and want to use cars and all this is doing is driving more and more people away from Glasgow hence the city is a shadow of its former self.
Somewhere in the chambers someone should be getting held accountable for this, but we all know thats never going to happen and instead they will milk us poor taxpayers with their golden pension.
Bring back some common sense, folks still need and want to use cars and all this is doing is driving more and more people away from Glasgow hence the city is a shadow of its former self.
Somewhere in the chambers someone should be getting held accountable for this, but we all know thats never going to happen and instead they will milk us poor taxpayers with their golden pension.
#11 Posted by Mark on 17 Feb 2025 at 22:37 PM
#5 - You're asking a lot there, we'd suddenly have a ThinBOT rather than a FatBOT posting on the website. Big philosophical and physiological leap.
#7 - Forward-thinking city? The general consensus of commenters on here seems to be that the city's leaders are dismal. Again, this is an example of changes being made to reduce access to the city centre by car, long before any improvements are made to public transport. If Glasgow was serious about improving connectivity, it should happen the other way round: what happened to Glasgow's "Crossrail" along the City Union Line, the Glasgow airport rail link, and so on?
#7 - Forward-thinking city? The general consensus of commenters on here seems to be that the city's leaders are dismal. Again, this is an example of changes being made to reduce access to the city centre by car, long before any improvements are made to public transport. If Glasgow was serious about improving connectivity, it should happen the other way round: what happened to Glasgow's "Crossrail" along the City Union Line, the Glasgow airport rail link, and so on?
#12 Posted by Freshly on 18 Feb 2025 at 08:42 AM
@10 Go yell at some clouds please.
Cycling in Glasgow at present is dangerous because of no real infrastructure. Cut the old 'good road blocked' crap. See continental cities and how its done - clever coexistence of all road users. And none of their centres resemble windswept high streets of UK. At least GCC is trying.
Cycling in Glasgow at present is dangerous because of no real infrastructure. Cut the old 'good road blocked' crap. See continental cities and how its done - clever coexistence of all road users. And none of their centres resemble windswept high streets of UK. At least GCC is trying.
#13 Posted by NextbikeScam on 18 Feb 2025 at 09:47 AM
Nice to see new bike lanes BUT a 1.5 mile cycle on one of the city's publicly available Nextbike cost £4 - what is going on.
#14 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 18 Feb 2025 at 11:42 AM
GCC -- trying ... / not a chance.
It is just spending other people's money badly.
Lochend Road / Commonhead Road -- disgrace in full view. Basics first then move on.
City Union Line -- Holyrood / Auld Reekie establishment don't want to see joined up train journeys in Glesga so it has no chance of progress in the current environment.
Glesga Airport -- cableliner from PGS and the City Union Line opens it up to the rest of Scotland.
But that would be a threat to Edinburgh Airport and the Auld Reekie civil service establishment wont let that happen.
It is just spending other people's money badly.
Lochend Road / Commonhead Road -- disgrace in full view. Basics first then move on.
City Union Line -- Holyrood / Auld Reekie establishment don't want to see joined up train journeys in Glesga so it has no chance of progress in the current environment.
Glesga Airport -- cableliner from PGS and the City Union Line opens it up to the rest of Scotland.
But that would be a threat to Edinburgh Airport and the Auld Reekie civil service establishment wont let that happen.
#15 Posted by gordon on 18 Feb 2025 at 12:27 PM
Who needs bike when it seem most already have a hobby horse?
#16 Posted by Jobby Horse on 18 Feb 2025 at 18:55 PM
Sorry, so if pretty much everyone agrees it's appallingly bad design whether you want to cycle or don't why is it being put upon us? Where is the proper, cheap interconnected mass transit? What can we do about all this ineptitude to start to sort things out much more properly than this?
#17 Posted by Jake Janobs on 19 Feb 2025 at 13:55 PM
Better mass transit that genuinely has room on it to transport bikes (not space for 1 or 2 on a train if you're lucky) is what we need. Public transit into town, then cycle around city centre to work, shops etc. I've been to places where even the buses have bike racks on the back.
#18 Posted by Mark on 20 Feb 2025 at 22:09 PM
Jobby Horse - great name, by the way - I think you'll find that proper, cheap interconnected mass transit keeps getting knocked back on cost grounds. Not just Crossrail and GARL that I mentioned, but also Edinburgh Trams line 2. It's seemingly not a priority for our overlords, of any political colour, although we've had better luck with inter-urban rail such as the Airdrie-Bathgate, Waverley Line, and Levenmouth railways.
