A West End councillor has stressed he will “not allow” a busy commuter route be changed if it causes congestion.
Three busy commuter routes are being considered by Dundee City Council to have their road surfaces “reallocated” to make way for cycle paths.
Lochee Road, Victoria Road, Dens Road, Arbroath Road, Princes Street and King Street are included in the Northern Links project.
The proposals are currently out for public consultation. More refined plans will then be put to transport charity Sustrans, who will then decide whether funding will be provided.
There are no finalised plans in place so it is not known how much of the road will be reallocated if the project goes ahead.
However, Fraser Macpherson says he would object to the plans if he felt it would lead to more congestion.
The Liberal Democrat councillor is also concerned the road surface will not be maintained to the same standard as the cycle paths.
He said: “I am very much in favour of the principle, however there are some concerns.
“Lochee Road is on the boundary with two wards, and on my side there is a lot of residential areas. I don’t want these constituents to be adversely affected by any changes to the route.
“We will do a site visit later in the month and walk the route to see if it is feasible. I think it will be, but there are a couple of issues.
“Some of the funding for the project will come from the Scottish Government, but I wouldn’t like to see the road itself suffer to make way for cycle paths as the road maintenance budget was cut last year.
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“I don’t want to see a road full of potholes when there are sparkling new cycle paths on the side.
“I would like to see the previous road budget reinstated.
“This is a busy route. We won’t allow the roads to be reduced to the point where it actually causes congestion.
“The majority of people I’ve spoken to are in favour of it and it’s important that as many people who use the road as possible make their views known.”
A council spokesman said: “We want to encourage as many people as possible to take part in the consultation to develop proposals.
“We will gather and analyse all of the responses with our partners to help inform the future of these three routes.
“That initial feedback will be used to create concept designs for new infrastructure and it is hoped that early next year draft designs will be published to lead to a more refined consultation.”
Meanwhile, 120 new bike parking spaces were opened in the city’s railway station.
The £400,000 infrastructure was designed by Jacobs and Nicoll Russell Studios and built by Tayside Contracts.
It happens as the annual Cycling Scotland Conference takes place in the city. As part of the conference, transport minister Michael Matheson will deliver a speech on Tuesday.
