New Traffic-Free Routes in the Black Country

People living and working in the Black Country are now able to enjoy a traffic-free route to short trips in their local area. This has been made possible after Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) partners, the charity, Canal & River Trust, completed a two-year project to improve 11 miles of towpath along the Birmingham Main Line canal, through Black Country scenery that is rich in industrial history and wildlife.

Recently undergoing a resurfacing programme, a series of maps were created to help promote the green corridor route between Wolverhampton and Birmingham for cycling and walking. These maps aim to help connect local people to their commute to work or school, nearby amenities or enjoy a leisurely stroll. These routes with the help of these maps will ultimately increase cycling and walking, improve health and reduce congestion.

Pindar Creative was selected to create a series of six maps, covering the local communities between Wolverhampton and Birmingham. The maps highlight the canal towpaths and access points along the canal, National Cycle Network (NCN) routes and local on- and off- road cycle routes.

The maps also highlight the location of the nearest public transport, parks and key local amenities, along with a user-friendly key showing walking and cycling times.

The maps were included in printed leaflets distributed to local residents in the area, to encourage more people to keep active for leisure and commuting.

Sabba Khaliq, Marketing Executive, West Midlands Combined Authority said:

Working with Pindar has been great!

We were keen to create cycling and walking maps for short trips from the Black Country to Birmingham. We aimed to have maps that were easy to follow and had the appropriate level of detail for someone on foot and pedal. Pindar’s expertise in mapping was helpful to weed out the secondary detail and filtered it down to produce a visually appealing set of maps, accessible for a variety of audiences.

We are certain these maps will be very well received by the people of the West Midlands.