Four Photos
Is it getting easier to ride a bike in Australia?
Four Photos tracks the progress of important bike routes in our cities.
#FourPhotos
Western Australia
PERTH
We’ve picked four spots in Perth that are popular and existing bike routes but aren’t quite up to scratch.
With a bit of extra love these four spots can become gold-class riding routes for both commuters and recreational riders.
Kings Park Road, West Perth
Why: this is a popular riding route for commuters, recreational riders and tourists heading into the city and accessing Kings Park.
There is on-road parking along the entire section of road and no other option for riders but to ride on the road, with no protection. No pedestrian path is provided along this side of the road. A person was killed while riding on this section of road in 2014.
What: a grade-separated shared path along the verge offering full protection to riders and pedestrians
Photo taken 2019.
Rutland Avenue in Victoria Park follows the rail line but has a grade-separated shared path that disappears.
Rutland Avenue, Victoria Park
Why: this is a key missing link in the Principal Shared Path (PSP) network along the Perth to Armadale rail line that is popular with commuters. Riders are forced from a grade-separated shared path onto the road with no protection.
What: construction of a shared path to complete the PSP and give people a seamless and safer ride to and from work.
Photo taken October 2019.
Riders feed into Milligan Street from the north, south and west but there is no dedicated space to ride.
Milligan Street, Perth
Why: Milligan Street is the junction of three popular commuter routes into the Perth CBD with riders coming from the north, south and west. There is no separation or protection along the road or at intersections.
What: installation of bike lanes and bike boxes plus changing of the traffic signal phasing to give riders a head-start.
Photo taken October 2019.
The Causeway has a shared path, but it is not up to scratch and needs to be made wider.
The Causeway, Perth
Why: this is a popular cycling, walking and jogging route in and out of the Perth CBD for people living east of the city. The current shared path is extremely narrow (only just wide enough to allow for two-way movements), has poor sight lines and uneven pavement.
What: a new dedicated bridge for bike riders and pedestrians with greater width for safer passing and overtaking.
Photo taken October 2019.
Four Photos
The cities
We've picked spots in Adelaide where the current bike infrastructure is not up to scratch, or bike lanes could be developed to connect missing links.
Ballarat is a city experiencing significant population growth. It has a golden opportunity to become a livable city where people have more choices about how they move around.
More people want to ride in Bendigo, but the bike network needs to be improved with better connections and bike lanes. We've chosen four places and recommended improvements.
Darwin has some bike friendly laws, but there are some areas that desperately need upgrading to help more people get riding.
For years, Sydney had the reputation as the toughest city in Australia to ride a bike. But many hard won, giant strides have been made recently.
Hobart can become one of Australia's great bike cities, but there are some dead ends in the network and not one protected bike lane.
Launceston could be an easy town to ride around, but there are missing links and poor quality trails and not one protected on-road bike lane.
Melbourne is known as one of Australia's most bike friendly cities, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.
Brisbane is becoming a bike friendly city – in 2019 it has a successful share bike program, a mayor who wants to relax mandatory helmet laws and allows footpath riding. However, there are still many gains to be made, including improvements to four important bike routes.