The Trouble with Low-Hanging Routes

Routes need purpose, not polish

Uninspiring upgrades

After the multi-million pound A Place for Everyone scheme in Arbroath has bedded in (no permanent gridlock, and no lifeboats failing to launch as predicted), what came next?

Uninspiring upgrades.

The path from the old industrial area at Dens Road up “The Valley” towards St Vigeans is wider now.

The coastal route between Arbroath and Easthaven is being improved at the Arbroath end.

And in Dundee, a smooth, tree-lined path has appeared along Riverside Drive.

What do all these active travel routes have in common?

They were already there.

Already segregated from traffic. Already usable.

Now smoother. Wider.

But they don’t go anywhere new.

No schools. No hospital. No sports centre. No shops. No stations.

No road space reallocated. No parking removed. No argument required.

Low-hanging routes.

Routes That Go Somewhere

A Place for Everyone in Arbroath was bold. It created something new: a way through the centre of town without a van or SUV inches from your elbow.

Now it is time to decide what it connects to.

Improving what already exists has value. But it shouldn’t come before starting even one new route that actually takes people somewhere.

In Arbroath, it could mean something simple: beginning to connect A Place for Everyone to Arbroath Academy or the Saltire Leisure Centre.

In Stirling, the route from the railway station to the University gets this. It connects. Where there’s space, it widens and segregates. Where there isn’t, it mixes. Then it opens out again.

Through tunnels, over bridges, along busy streets. The purpose is obvious: get people on bikes from A to B.

In Angus and Dundee, we are currently being given more of what we already have – along the coast, along the edge.

We need routes that go somewhere.

I’d rather have a mixed-quality traffic free route that gets you somewhere than a perfect path that leads back to hostile roads where the funding ended.

Purpose Beats Polish

We don’t need everything at once.

But a route requires meaningful destinations.

Pick them. Then work towards them.

A junction improved here. A crossing there. A segregated stretch where space allows.

Over time, it becomes something purposeful and coherent.

Funding is tight. Right now, in Angus and Dundee, pieces of infrastructure are being polished.

But purpose beats polish.

Michael — Without Invitation