Cameras in Kirkwall

Cameras are in place in eight locations in Kirkwall today, Tuesday, to help gather statistics about levels of cycling and walking, following a three year project aimed at encouraging greener travel in the town.

Orkney Islands Council was awarded money for the ‘Kickstart Kirkwall’ project back in 2009, from the Scottish Government’s Smarter Choices Smarter Places initiative. The figures collected by the Scottish Government will be used to compare levels of walking and cycling before and after the project started.

Cameras will be in place until 7pm tonight, and there will also be a team on the ground doing manual counts in and around Kirkwall.

Since its introduction in August 2009, the Kickstart Kirkwall project – which is almost at an end – has helped fund a number of measures to help encourage walking and cycling including paths around the Peedie Sea, various cycle ways in Kirkwall, personalised travel planning for Kirkwall and Shapinsay residents, bike racks on buses in summer, and more recently improvements to popular walking paths in Stromness.