The City of Melbourne has rebooted its paused bike infrastructure program by announcing proposals for new separated bikes lanes through North Melbourne and Kensington.
Following a 12-month hiatus which stymied progress on an extensive list of bike route upgrades, the City has released plans for lanes on 1.5km of Arden Street and 1.4km of Macaulay Road.
The new lanes will mostly be kerbside, with either parked cars or physical barriers between the bikes and the traffic. Other standard treatments such as green surfaces at conflict points and storage boxes at intersections are expected.
![](https://bicyclenetwork.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Arden-Macauley-bike-upgrade.png)
The projects are along significant east-west routes that connect to the hospital and university precincts to the north of the CBD.
Arden Street is an important link through to the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail and through Lloyd Street to the trail on Dynon Road.
Towards the west, Arden Street at its junction with Macaulay Road will also be adjacent to the Arden-Macaulay precinct redevelopment around the Metro Tunnel station, which is under construction near the North Melbourne Football Ground.
On Macaulay Road, the new lanes will run from Eastwood Street to Arden Street and will be particularly beneficial between Eastwood and Boundary Road.
Consultation will be underway until 24 May 2023, after which finalised designs will be submitted to the Department of Transport and Planning.
The schedule for delivery of the project is not known.