Opposition to cycleway plan – from an unexpected source

The City of Sydney’s plans for a cycleway on Missenden Road have flown into an unexpected headwind, with the proposal being opposed on safety grounds by management at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

The plan forsees a two-way cycle path being implemented along the thoroughfare, running between King Street in Newtown and Pyrmont Bridge Road in Camperdown.

RPA cites a high volume of pedestrian traffic, “including sick, disabled and elderly people,” as the reason for its objection to the cycleway. It has proposed a short distance in front of the main hospital to be designated a ‘no ride zone’, where cyclists dismount and push their bikes, to protect “vulnerable pedestrians”.

Some have suggested a possible reason for RPA’s opposition to the proposal is the loss of parking.  The proposal could claim up to 40 spaces along Missenden Road.  But a SSWAHS spokesperson said the reasons for RPA’s opposition to the cycleway were unrelated to parking.  “The motivation for the objection is purely safety and only on a very short distance,” he said via email. 

Andrew Dodds, Vice-President of BikeSydney, supported the plan.  “Overall, cyclists out there today are used to the conditions [on the roads].  Cycleways being built today are for the next generation of cyclists.  If you look at the actual bike lane being put forward, there’s a whole lot of stuff being proposed along with it – education campaigns as well.” 

But not all cyclists are in favour of the proposal.  On dedicated cyclists’ forum ‘Critical Mass’, poster Bill Holliday argued cyclists would continue to use the main road for their own convenience and safety.  “Putting a cyclepath between car parking and the kerb will mean that car passengers including children, mums and bubs and the elderly will be unloading right into the path of high speed (30 kph) cyclists,” he wrote.  “The cyclepath is two way for cyclists and is too narrow to allow safe passing much less safe cyclist-overtaking-cyclist operations.  There is also no safe way to make turns into the streets to the south of Missenden Road from the cyclepath.”