Get on your bike at paths project launch
Musical drop-in event
The Blackford safer routes survey is now up and running Cyclists from in and around Blackford are being invited to the south-west Perthshire community as part of a proposal to create safer bike and walking routes.
The Blackford Paths Project will officially be launched on Sunday with guest band Tarneybackle helping to promote the effort.
The event is centred on the Moray Institute and takes place from 11am. Cyclists from Auchterarder are among those attending, as is a tandem bike.
The PA previously reported that a group of interested people within the community council are looking at the options for boosting travel, either on foot or by bike, to Auchterarder and Gleneagles.
Currently the A9, with stretches of unmade path along the roadside northbound, is the only direct route for those on foot, with concerns also about those attempting to use the dual carriageway by bike.
Organisers hope that people will join the cycling group to highlight routes around the village and its surrounds, including the Bardrill Road to Gleneagles and find out more about the proposal to boost alternative travel to and from the community.
Residents have been told that the level crossing in Blackford will be closed meaning that alternative routes have to be taken on Sunday.
The drop-in launch event at the Moray Institute runs until 3pm and will give opportunities for everyone interested in paths for cycling and walking in the Blackford area to feed in their ideas and information to the project, to discuss ideas with Blackford Community Council’s consultant, Crispin Hayes, and to look at maps of possible routes for cycling from Blackford to the Auchterarder area.
A spokesperson for Blackford Community Council said the group was grateful to Tactran and the Climate Challenge Fund for funding the community consultation and the planned technical survey of suitable routes.
All cyclists and walkers are welcome to support the launch.