Making light of a crisis

摘要

The moment the Department for Transport announced the Emergency Active Travel Fund on 23 May, the whistle was blown for the start of unprecedented action by local transport authorities to produce cycling and walking facilities, which in practice has meant widening pavements and providing cycle routes. Available in two tranches, this funding has been a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with tranche one for immediate temporary installations as part of social distancing. Tranche two is more substantial funding for longer-term projects. For local authorities across the nation, this has been an opportunity they never expected to see and it has been grasped with both hands, as pop-up cycle lanes suddenly appeared and pavements doubled in size overnight.