City’s one-mile cycle path to cost £8m

A new mile-long riverside path for pedestrians and cyclists will take three years to complete and cost £8 million.

Barges will be needed for the construction of the path along Swansea’s River Tawe, the council has said.

The active travel route will be built in three phases on the west bank of the river from a point north of the Tawe bridges to the Hafod-Morfa Copperworks area, helping to link the city centre with the copperworks, Swansea.com Stadium and Morfa Retail Park for cyclists and pedestrians.

The council’s cabinet formally approved funding for the project, which will take three years to complete, along with several other transport schemes at a meeting last week.

Cllr Andrew Stevens, cabinet member for environment and infrastructure, said the new path would help open up the riverfront.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked the council why the path seemed to be such an expensive project, why it couldn’t be done in less time and whether a section of existing shared-use path near the former copperworks would be incorporated in the new one.

The council said it would be a complex scheme in terms of engineering. “The works will include the provision of a new revetment to support the walkway, with elements of the work also needing to be constructed from barges due to access restrictions,” said a council spokesman.

He said it would link up with the existing stretch of shared-use path near the copperworks – an area undergoing major restoration – and add to 85 miles of shared-use paths throughout Swansea.

A report before cabinet said the path would cost £8.25 million including design and project management costs and be paid for via £6.6 million of Welsh Government regional transport fund money, plus £1.4 million from the UK Government and a £250,000 developer contribution linked to a separate planning permission.

E-bike hire scheme

Other schemes benefiting from regional transport fund money are due to be implemented in Swansea in 2026-27, including a £750,000 e-bike hire scheme with up to 500 bikes.

Cllr Stevens said the aim of the e-bike hire was to offer people a practical alternative for short trips and better links to public transport. The locations of where they’ll be available for hire, he said, were still to be determined.

Other projects to be delivered in 2026-27 include an £800,000 drainage scheme at Killay Square, Killay, a new £700,000 shared-use path linking Ffordd Beck, Gowerton, to Pont Y Cob Road less than a mile away, and a £500,000 upgrade of the shared-use path between Dunvant and Gowerton.

There’s also £370,000 for eight new rapid electric vehicle charge points proposed in Clydach, St Thomas, the SA1-Swansea Marina area and Port Eynon, and £175,000 for safety improvements on Gors Road, Townhill.

Speed camera system

Also in the pipeline this financial year is a new average speed camera system on the A484 between the Cadle roundabout and Loughor Bridge, along with improved road markings and signs.

Regional transport fund money will also be used to design future schemes such as a new park and ride site on Alamein Road, Landore, to replace the existing one by the Hafod-Morfa Copperworks, and a flood alleviation scheme on the A4118 between Llanddewi and Scurlage, Gower.

Speaking last week a businessman based on the A484 between the Cadle roundabout and Loughor Bridge said of the proposed speed cameras: “It could do with it – it’s a very fast road. And it’s a lot faster at night-time. They race up and down there.”

The council has previously confirmed expenditure of just over £12 million on roads, pavements, bridges and gulleys for 2026-27. Around £9 million of it is for road repairs and resurfacing. Speaking at the cabinet meeting council leader Rob Stewart said a further £2 million could potentially be added to the pot in the first quarter of the current financial year.

He also drew colleagues’ attention to wider plans for a Swansea Bay and West Wales Metro, which has received £761,000 of regional transport fund money for 2026-27. The metro aims among other things to result in new rail stations at Landore and Winch Wen and potentially at Pontlliw, Felindre, Morriston, Llandarcy and Cockett.

“I think we should be really excited about all this,” said Cllr Stewart.