DUNFERMLINE will be pedal-powered with £2.2m to be spent on new and improved routes for cycling in and around the city.

Over the next two years there will be links from the Public Park to Pittencrieff Park, Bothwell Gardens to Rosyth railway station and Duloch to Rex Park.

Work on William Street should also connect the Dunfermline to Alloa cycle way with Pittencrieff Park.

Susan Keenlyside, from Fife Council, said, “We aim to provide significant new and improved cycle routes in Dunfermline alongside free, intensive cycle training for all ages, provide additional facilities for walking and cycling and develop pathways to increasing bike ownership.” SUSTRANS have backed the vision by providing half of the money but they’re also expecting the council to deliver new and innovative solutions in Dunfermline that other areas of Scotland can learn from.

More new routes and links are expected to be suggested by the public too. One of the main improvements will see the footpath on the eastern side of Queensferry Road widened, by narrowing the road verge, to three metres for both cyclists and walkers.

Phil Clarke, a council engineer/planner in sustainable travel networks, explained, “That’s a major project. The existing cycle route goes up Grange Road, which is not the best road to promote as a safe cycle route.

“We always wanted a proper traffic-free route to link Rosyth rail station and Dunfermline city centre which will probably take around three years.

“Ultimately, we’d like it on both sides of Queensferry Road but we’ll likely do one side first which will tie in with the scheduled footway improvements. “The first phase will be Hospital Hill to Bothwell Gardens.” Routes linking Dunfermline’s main two parks have been plotted and will likely coincide with 20mph zones being introduced to the centre of the city. Key junctions and safe crossing points will be introduced, lines will be painted and footways widened in some areas – with the road narrowed as a result – but only where it’s safe to do so.

Mr Clarke said, “A lot of the cycle routes here will be on-road as it’s a fairly dense street network and we’re looking at two routes, an east-to-west and a west-to-east.

“You have streets like Bridge Street, Kirkgate and Maygate which are one-way so it will have to be one-way cycling on those streets too.

“We’re looking at Park Avenue and a safe crossing point across New Row to Canmore Street to link with those streets.” The west-to-east route would go from Pittencrieff Park, down Monastery Street, across St Margaret’s Street, Priory Lane, New Row and Comely Park to link with both the railway station and Public Park.

Nearby, the Lyneburn Corridor project is more than £1m in total and, when finished, will include a pleasant cycleway and footpath connecting Whitefield Road and the Duloch area to the city centre.

The main route is from St Columba’s High School to Rex Park but the aim is to extend the traffic-free link to the thousands of new homes on the east side of Dunfermline. There’s £250,000 for this financial year with bridge and path work, planting and landscaping to smooth and brighten the green network, with work expected to improve the burn too.

An important link to the west of Dunfermline could depend on the success of negotiations with a landowner for a strip of land running down the western side of William Street. The idea is to link the Dunfermline to Alloa cycle path with the Glen and also provide a pedestrian walkway, something residents have long called for.

The council is also looking at options for a Crossford-to-Dunfermline cycle route and is in talks with a housing developer about extending the “path to nowhere”, which stops outside Kingseat, into Dunfermline.