Manchester is thinking big, with plans to make one of the busiest public transport routes in Europe, Oxford Road, home to the city’s first Dutch-style segregated cycle route.

A computer-generated fly-through of the Oxford Road cycle route shows an impressive wide, direct route separated from traffic by kerbs and solid white lines.

Those on bikes won’t have to pull out into traffic every time a bus stops, but will ride on the protected cycle track down the inside of 13 of the route’s 14 bus stops.

Oxford Road houses Manchester Royal Infirmary, two universities and a student union, the Manchester Aquatics Centre and the Manchester Museum, among other things.

The idea is popular so far – of 2000 comments from 900 people on the consultation, 65% were in favour of the plans, which are part of the city’s £54m bus priority scheme. Currently the road is heavily congested, making journeys slow and unpredictable on the up to 100 buses using the route per hour. It is hoped that the new safe cycle tracks will get more people out of their cars and onto bikes, and ease congestion.