£1.2m for new bike infrastructure in Salford

It's been a few years since the famous libeiterian politician Norman Tebbit helpfully suggested that the 4 million unemployed people his government presided over should get on their bikes and find a job - just like his dad did.
Bless. This is not the place to explore the siesmic economic shifts which were applied to Britain in the early 80s and analyse whether the ownership of a bicycle would have helped a metal basher from Birmingham get a job in a call centre.

5 bees, two lions and a ship - Salford's coat of arms

But, the unusual thing is, is that this thinking has just re-emerged, in Salford.
Now, I don't suggest for a minute that Salford City Council has adopted Tebbit's view that unemployed people are all lazy scumbags and they could get a job if they pulled their collective fingers out.  Rather Salford Council's announcement this week that it is to spend £1.2m on cycling infrastructure to '...help local people access jobs...' should be seen as a progressive step in trying to get more people to cycle sensible distances to major centres of employment.
£1.2m doesn't sound like a game-changing amount of money for Salford but the more politicians recognise the value of and logical argument of the bicycle, the better for all of us.
The list of works includes:

• A 1.8km two way, off road cycle route along the A5063 Broadway, the main traffic route to the Quays, and improvements to its junction with South Langworthy Road. 
• A cycle route from the University of Salford to Salford Quays, which links in with £10m worth of traffic calming schemes on the A6, and runs along Trafford Road to link up with Broadway. 
• A shared pedestrian/cycle path along Regent Road, which is currently unpopular with cyclists due to heavy traffic, and improved cycle routes along Langworthy Road and Weaste Lane which will also link with Broadway. 
• Alongside this the Council aims to improve cycling along the River Irwell to the north of the University of Salford in a bid to take up to 1000 car journeys a day off the roads. 
• Improvements will be carried out to bridges, junctions, signs and crossings along the route as well as creating a path to be shared by cyclists and pedestrians between Woden Street and Fairbrother St, Ordsall. Irwell River Park will also become part of the National Cycle Network as route NCN 556 and will link Salford Quays to Salford Central Station, Salford University, the A6 Chapel St and new developments at Salford Central and Greengate.