Page 198 - Minutes of meeting

The Connectivity Challenge Road and rail links in Barrow provide vital connections, however the

Distance road network has significant pinch points along the A595 and A590,
with serious resilience and reliability issues due to the lack of
alternatives and the single carriageway nature of the roads.

Connectivity to other urban centres is made difficult by Barrow’s
coastal-peripheral situation, with a drive of almost 1 hour (at peak
hour) to the nearest motorway junction at the M6 (around 54km
away). Lancaster, the nearest city, is well over an hour away by car
and other nearby cities are more than two hours away by car or train.
67% of Barrow residents travel by private vehicle to work, with a
further 7.2% travelling by public transport.

Poor rail connectivity with other hubs in the North West is also
demonstrated by the fact that it is quicker to drive to both Liverpool
and Manchester than taking the train. Furthermore, the train ratio for
Manchester is double that of London – meaning that distance is
covered twice as quickly on a journey to the latter.
A high proportion of

workers travel by Area Drive from Train from Distance Train ratio
Barrow (miles as the Drive ratio
Barrow
bicycle/foot to work (mins) (mins) crow flies)
(24% compared to
14.5% nationally) Lancaster 72 60 17.6 4.1 3.4

Barrow’s peripherality impacts on the nature of highlighting the Preston 91 82 31.8 2.9 2.6
commuting. Barrow is a relatively self-contained TTWA importance of active Liverpool 140 155 49.3 2.8 3.1

area and is principally served by the three housing travel routes. Manchester 126 132 59 2.1 2.2
markets of Barrow and Ulverston, Whitehaven and South
Lakeland. However, the draw of employment in major Carlisle 106 151 55.4 1.9 2.7
projects in Barrow has contributed to a ‘tidal’ workforce London 337 253 221.5 1.5 1.1
who travel to Barrow mid week and return back to their Source: Igeolise based on drive time at 8am (weekday); Google,
main place of residence at weekend. Trainline. NB: data not adjusted for peak hour traffic. *ratios
obtained by dividing travel time by distance; Census, 2011