CYCLE lanes have been installed on Newton roads in an initiative designed to protect bikers.

The lanes are on busy stretches of the A57 Warrington Road and Vista Road between Newton and Haydock and are used by more than 50 bikers a day.

This follows the success of the Greenfield Road cycle lane which had been an accident blackspot for cyclists. There have been no recorded accidents since the cycle lane opened in 1997, after eight in the previous three years.

Councillor Joe De Asha, chairman of Highways and Transportation, said: "Cycle lanes can and will play an important role in addressing cycle related accidents in the borough."

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.