Bike path wars rage in Sydney

It’s one thing to want a functional cycle path network. It’s another to plan and build it, as the City of Sydney is learning.

Clover Moore faces a popular revolt because the new cycle path on Bourke Road, Alexandria eliminated so many car parking spots that several businesses claim to have been sent broke. One comment on the Southern Courier website said Ms Moore herself couldn’t find a park when she arrived to open the new route.

Another comment claimed locals were smashing glass on the path to sabotage riders.

Many residents of Bourke Street, Surry Hills still actively oppose the cycle path there on similar grounds, and because they say it has been poorly designed.

Indeed, it breaches key RTA recommendations on cycle path design. It lacks a median strip between parked cars and the bike path, meaning doors will open into the path of bikes; and its two-way layout contraflows one bike lane against the traffic direction, greatly increasing the risk of collision and making it difficult for riders to access destinations across the road. The RTA recommends such a median strip and prefers one-way paths in the same direction as vehicles. And last week several international cycling experts slammed the two-way design as dangerous. It is understood that the City will trial giving bikes right-of-way over traffic entering from side streets in an effort to reduce the danger.

Bourke Sreet residents were told by police at a community meeting last week that cyclists faced a $53 fine if they used a traffic lane where a bike lane existed. This turns out to be correct but does not apply to the new bike path as it is separated from the road and not technically a bike lane.

The Council’s route for a cycleway along the Johnston’s Creek Reserve in Forest Lodge has also aroused opposition from residents and the Greens Councillors.

Meanwhile some angry motorists slam the cycle path on King Street West.

But the City remains determined to build its cycle network, quoting the success of other cities in shifting transport from four wheels to two. It is backed by the bulk of cycling advocates and the Premier, Kristina Keneally who herself rides to work each day from Pagewood with police escort.

Critics say the Premier hasn’t put her money where her mouth is, saying the $158 million allocated to bike paths for the whole of NSW is a decline in real terms. Ten years ago the State allocated $250 million for its Bike Plan 2010, little of which has been realised.

by Michael Gormly