Believe it or not these twin projects are Cambridge’s first segregated cycle routes, and work starts on both this week (26 January 2015).

The one mile, £1.2m Hills Road cycle track and the shorter, £700,000 Huntingdon Road tracks (pictured) are expected to be complete by June.

There are currently 4,000 cycle trips per day on Hills Road, and 2,800 on Huntingdon Road, and these numbers are set to increase.

The council will maintain a cycle route along  both roads during the works, or put up signs asking motorists not to overtake bikes where the road narrows. A council spokesman told TWC he would consider a “cyclists dismount” sign a failure, as it could put off the very cyclists they are trying to encourage.

Both routes are 2.1m wide, with Hills Road a raised cycleway on both sides of the road, travelling part way between the station and the rapidly expanding Addenbrookes hospital. Huntingdon’s two-way cycle track, part kerb-separated, part raised from road level, has bus stop bypasses, which narrow to slow cyclists down where pedestrians cross.

There’s also a brand new type of zebra crossing for the UK in the offing here, which both cyclists and pedestrians can use. Cambridgeshire council produced a ‘fly-through’ of both cycle routes showing how it will work for buses, cyclists and pedestrians.