This £4m scheme was part of Liverpool City Region’s Sustainable Transport Enhancement Package (STEP) and focussed on the regeneration of the central reservation along Princes Avenue and upgrading the carriageway and footpaths along Princes Avenue and Princes Road.
The STEP programme was part of the Local Growth Fund (LGF). Local Growth Funding is awarded to the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and invested through the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority through its Strategic Investment Fund. Growth Deals provided £1.9m funding for the scheme.
The scheme has improved access along the Boulevard for both pedestrians and cyclists, creating spaces for seating, informal meetings and small events. The features along the Boulevard tell the story of the Avenue, its heritage, its communities and its future. Through creative engagement the schools and community groups have really put their stamp on the new spaces and made it their own.
By installing a 1km long cycle path and pedestrian walkway within the central reservation – a first for Liverpool – the scheme aimed to improve active sustainable transport and enhance both the cycle and pedestrian connectivity between south Liverpool and the city centre.
The new access paths also formed an extension of a new ‘green corridor’ to Otterspool that was due to be delivered in the same period, under the separate EU funded URBAN Green UP project.
By partnering with the STEP programme at an early stage the URBAN Green Up project supported 1265m2 of pollinator turf planting along the length of the boulevard, making an instant visual impact and increasing biodiversity in an urban city area.
The addition of both the new pedestrian and cycle routes along Princes Boulevard help to extend and encourage sustainable active travel and provide enhanced connectivity for the green corridor route.
Culture Liverpool worked with colleagues in Highways, Traffic, the contractors, landscape architects, community groups and local schools to tell the stories of the place and its people, their heritage, their communities and their future through the design of the public realm, creating a sense of place and ownership.
