Greater Manchester signs up to internationally-renowned walking and cycling design standards

Following in the footsteps of world-leading cycling cities such as Portland and Vancouver, Greater Manchester is to adopt the National Association of City Transportation Officials’ (NACTO) Global Street Design Guide.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said the city region will use the internationally-renowned design guide to help realise its plans to make our streets safer, attractive and more economically vibrant.

Andy said: “It is no coincidence that the cities that have truly embraced cycling and walking regularly top polls for being the most attractive and exciting places to be. We want to bring this ethos to Greater Manchester, refreshing our streets and making them much more attractive to navigate on foot or by bike.

“We’ve got hugely ambitious plans to transform Greater Manchester and that means we need to be following the very best practice. I have asked Chris Boardman to use these global standards to develop Greater Manchester’s own version of how we should design our streets to make them healthier places that enable more people to travel actively.”

NACTO Chair, Janette Sadik-Khan, added: “Signing on to this guide puts Greater Manchester on the global street design map and will bring safe, active streets to every neighbourhood in the city. Better streets are one of the most important investments a city can make, and by adopting this guide, Greater Manchester is aligning their technical guidance with their concrete goals, and providing a leadership example to other UK cities.”

Shortlisted for the UK National Design Awards and first published in 2016, the guide, which charts the practices of the world’s best engineers, planners, and designers, is constantly updated and has been adopted by more than 35 cities across the world.

Greater Manchester’s Cycling and Walking Commissioner, Chris Boardman, added: “We’ve got one opportunity to get this right. If we want to see a transport revolution in Greater Manchester, we need to make sure the infrastructure that we are putting in is first rate. It makes sense to use tried and tested methods, already proven to be successful in some of the best cities in the world. Signing up to the NACTO standards is a great place to start.”

Boardman published Made to Move, his 15-step plan to transform how Greater Manchester gets around, in December 2017. Further details on how the plan will be delivered will be announced in the spring.

Click here to read the letter Andy wrote to Janette about our plans.