ALMOST £930,000 will be spent to deliver improvements to a junction which is ‘dangerous’ for cyclists.

The junction of Bewsey Road and Lovely Lane will become a CYCLOPS (cycle optimised protected signals) junction – which will provide ‘segregated’ cycle paths and footways, with a dedicated pedestrian and cycle signalised crossing.

At its meeting on Monday, the council’s cabinet approved the funding package and budget for the scheme, as well as giving delegated approval for the award of the construction contract for the project.

The estimated cost to complete all of the scheme works inclusive of a risk allowance for the construction phase is £928,893.

This will be made up of £759,500 from the Department for Transports’ Active Travel Fund, and £169,393 from capital borrowing.

Council leader Cllr Russ Bowden said he is ‘really excited’ about the scheme.

He added: “I’m certainly for anything which makes our streets safer – and it’s too easy to think of roads and streets and highways as being all about car users and actually we’ve got a range of users.

“And, certainly, you look at the location of this, its proximity to schools, its proximity to the hospital, everything we should be thinking about, encouraging and facilitating greater use of walking and cycling as a way of moving around our town.

“Certainly a lot of the time it’s about giving confidence, giving confidence to other road users, in terms of those choices they might want to make but ensuring that they’re safe, they’re safe for them, they’re safe for their children, and that needs to be commended.”

The junction is an existing traffic signalled controlled junction which lies at the intersection of two key cycle routes as defined within the Warrington local cycling and walking infrastructure plan.

A report to cabinet said the existing movement through the junction by cycle is ‘difficult and at times dangerous’, adding a CYCLOPS junction has been identified as the ‘most appropriate’ solution for the junction.