A TOWN'S commuters are to be urged to get on their bikes.

Middlesbrough Borough Council plans to build miles of cycle lanes next to its main routes into town, the Marton and Acklam Roads, to encourage families to leave their car at home.

Plans for the pedal power revolution are being finalised, The Northern Echo can reveal.

But the scheme's start date can only be announced after it has been discussed by councillors and thrown open to public consultation. A council spokesman said: "The council is examining quite substantial traffic management plans for the two main feeder routes into central Middlesbrough.

"Reports on these are being finalised, but both contain plans for road cycle lanes.

"We are looking at a range of measures to improve traffic flows and transport within these areas," he said.

"We have to find an engineering solution. It's not a case of the council or Government telling people what they must do. It's about the council offering viable and sustainable alternatives to the motor car so people can make a choice."

The spokesman said the major cause of town centre pollution was traffic exhaust fumes.

He said: "The message is clear from Government and from environmentalists. If we continue to depend solely on the private motor car, and don't offer people an alternative, there will be more pollution and more congestion."

Cycle lanes would be part of an integrated transport plan for Middlesbrough.

The spokesman said: "You do find a time lag between alternatives being offered and alternatives being taken up. We expect that some people will continue to use the car as a necessity."

But he said the council would achieve something if people left their cars at home one day a week, to use an alternative means of transport.

Middlesbrough already prides itself on being an important hub on the National Cycle Network, and there are plans to improve the route through the town later this year.