Project overview
Barnsley Council, the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority and their partners are proposing a series of walking and cycling improvements. These are part of the A61 Royston active travel scheme.
The project is part of the Transforming Cities Fund (TCF). Barnsley Council has secured over £13m of this central government funding and £5.2m is being used towards this project.
The A61 Royston – Smithies – Barnsley active travel route is a large section of new off/on road cycling infrastructure. It links the Principal Town of Royston to Barnsley town centre.
There is a growing demand for cycling to work, education and for leisure and health purposes. However, the feeling is that people aren't happy riding a bike on roads used by cars and other vehicles. This suggests busy roads and poor cycle facilities and routes are putting off cyclists in the Barnsley area.
For our scheme, we have assessed the key issues which include:
- Lack of off-road 'safe' cycle routes
- Poor physical infrastructure that don't make it easy for cyclists, such as inaccessible and unsafe crossings
- Lack of linked routes
- Poor connections between residential areas and local amenities
- Lack of signed cycle routes
- Poor parking for cyclists
- Conflicts between turning movements
- Risk of flooding on some parts of the route
- Poor quality public realm and landscaping
Projected timeline
The table below shows the proposed key milestones that we're working towards.
| Activity | Date |
| Outline business case submission | February 2021 |
| Full business case submission | June 2022 |
| Construction start | January 2023 |
| Construction end | May 2023 |
Supporting information
This active travel scheme follows the A61 from the town centre to Royston. Details of the route and proposed changes are outlined in the plan below.
Contact us
Should you require any further details about this transport scheme then please contact us by email: transportation@barnsley.gov.uk