Moreland City Council voted unanimously last night to retain bike lanes that have been under trial across Pascoe Vale and Brunswick.
Bike lanes on Northumberland Rd, Pascoe Vale, and Dawson St, Brunswick will be made permanent.
A trial of the Kent Road pop-up bike lane will be extended for another 12 months, with some changes to the design.
Shared zones on Albert Street and Victoria Street in Brunswick will also become permanent features.
Extensive monitoring and evaluation datasets were collected by the council over the previous 12-month trial period, and were published as part of last night's council meeting agenda to inform decision making.
Regarding Kent Road the data shows:
- an increase of 21% in the average daily number of people riding bikes throughout the trial
- a markedly higher increase in bike riding activity compared to ‘control sites’ in the vicinity of Kent Road (St Georges Road and Capital City Trail)
- an increase in female riders during the trial
- no significant changes to vehicle travel speeds, on-street car parking availability, and traffic volumes.
The recommendations being put to the council for decision were to:
- Note the technical investigations, data analysis and community engagement undertaken during the bike lane trial, and the key findings.
- Conclude the trial and undertake functional and detailed design to make the bike lane permanent, taking on board existing feedback.
- Undertake further engagement with the community.
- Implement additional features, including raised pedestrian crossings, traffic calming treatments, street beautification, and behaviour change programs.
- Continue monitoring the infrastructure after its implementation, including community feedback.
A more detailed breakdown of the recommendations that were put before Council can be viewed on page 44 (Item 7.2) of the meeting agenda here.
These bike lanes were earmarked in Moreland City Council’s 10-year capital works program for bike projects. In 2020, council decided to fast-track the delivery of the bike lanes, voting unanimously for a $2.4 million suite of walking and bike projects.