As the City of Newcastle forges ahead with its vision of more liveable streets, it is seeking feedback on designs for a cycleway project to connect key suburbs to the CBD.
In 2021, the council completed works on stage one of the Hunter Street Cycleway, a roughly 600 metre stretch of separated bike lanes between Worth Place and National Park Street.
Planning is underway for stage two, an extension of the Hunter Street Cycleway further northwest to Ivy Street, which forms a continuous 2km connection for commuters riding to the CBD from the suburbs of Hamilton, Islington and Tighes Hill.
"As population growth puts pressure on our roads and streets, providing additional space for cars is not the answer, but re-evaluating how we use these spaces will help to support and enrich our daily lives and lead to a healthier, greener and more connected Newcastle,” says City of Newcastle Councillor Charlotte McCabe.
The final project designs for stage two of the Hunter Street Cycleway are out for public comment, and follow design cues seen in stage one.
They include separated bike lanes on each side of the street and traffic lanes reduced to one lane in each direction to retain parking. The designs also feature new treatments at all intersections, buffer zones with plastic separators and kerb build-outs with ramps at bus stops.
This route through Newcastle's inner-west has been identified as a key one in the city's Cycle Plan 2021-2030, and previous consultations have indicated strong community support: 89% of survey respondents strongly support a separated cycleway on Hunter Street and 74% strongly support the reduction of traffic lanes from four to two.
The final designs are out for comment until 5pm on Wednesday 8 November. Visit the page and provide your feedback here.
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