Open Botanic: An active travel and healthy street strategy for Botanic Avenue, Belfast

Active travel infrastructure in Belfast lags behind most European cities.This problem has been highlighted by academics, administrators andpoliticians. Despite the recent change in discourse in politics and themedia, due to the climate breakdown, pollution and road safety, therehas been virtually no change in the infrastructure that supports cardependency in Belfast. Only 25% of people walk to work, while only 2%cycle; 19% of primary school kids walk to school, while only 1% cycle;17% of kids walk to post primary schools while none of them cycle. Theseare not just numbers. They reflect a way of life that hinders the health andwellbeing of people across our city. While we believe that the Departmentfor Infrastructure should be championing the transformation of modesof transport to favour active travel, we understand that this needs to besupported by research. We also believe that this needs to be done oneroad at a time, to build a network that will be effective and safe to fosterthe change in travel modes in Belfast.Our team spent close to one year in a research and engagement exerciseto measure travel modes in Botanic Avenue and to assess the differencebetween perceptions of cycling, walking and driving among local residents,visitors, businesses and organisations. Echoing similar research carriedout around the world, we observed that that while local businesses believethat about 70% of their visitors arrive by private car, only 20% actuallydo so, while all others arrive by foot, bike and public transport. We alsofound that there are on average approximately ten times more pedestrianspassing through the Botanic Avenue area than cars parked on the street.Moreover, there is an overwhelming majority of respondents surveyed thatwant a transformation of Botanic Avenue in terms of walking, sitting anddining space.This report presents the results of this research, and points to arecommended way ahead. Other research projects at Queen’s areinvestigating the reasons behind car dependency in Belfast, while theMinister for Infrastructure announces ‘car free’ Sundays. The next naturalstep will be for the Department for Infrastructure to implement a trial cyclelane in Botanic Avenue. This will allow us to continue the a collaborativeresearch project by engaging with stakeholders to assess their reactionsto the changes in infrastructure. We believe that this joint approach wouldbring a better, healthier, more liveable, accessible and inclusive BotanicAvenue for the future.