WORK has begun on a £925,000 cycle and pedestrian path which aims to connect more than 15,000 people living on the edge of York.

The shared off-road route running alongside the Outer Ring Road between its Haxby Road and Wigginton Road roundabouts is also intended to provide better links to Clifton Moor Retail Park and for students at Joseph Rowntree School.

It is the flagship of a four-year City of York Council travel project, and is due for completion late next spring.

It will include new links with Haxby Road close to its roundabout with the A1237, a new bridge over the York to Scarborough rail line and an extra Wigginton Road crossing. The funding will come from the authority’s i-Travel York initiative and Local Transport Plan coffers, after York was given £4.6 million of Government funding for sustainable transport two years ago.

The route is aimed at Haxby, Strensall, Huntington, Earswick and New Earswick residents as well as Clifton Moor shoppers and those working in the area or who use its gyms and other facilities.

Coun Dave Merrett, cabinet member for transport, said: “The Clifton Moor retail, leisure and employment areas attract about eight million visitors every year and supports 6,000 employees, so it’s key that we provide an alternative way to get there.

“There are still many parts of York where we need to invest in our cycle routes, particularly in areas like Clifton Moor which are hard to access, and helping cyclists get off-road should be safer all round.”

North Yorkshire Police said the path would help reduce accidents involving cyclists, and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s senior development manager Jonathan Gibson said: “This investment will make York a better place to live and work and to become more sustainable in transport terms.”

More information about the route is at http://www.york.gov.uk/haxbytocliftonmoor