Re: News & Discussion: Cycling
Posted: Wed Feb 26, 2020 9:16 am
And here we go again...
From: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/messenge ... 9bf3a5af27Adelaide bikeway plan: Councillors suggest revisiting controversial old bikeway plan, rather than cut parking spaces
A controversial bikeway plan that would wipe out hundreds of parking spaces on Pirie and Waymouth streets looks set to be dumped – to be replaced with an old and equally contentious plan.
Adelaide City Council looks set to back-pedal on a controversial bikeway plan to wipe out hundreds of car and motorcycle parks down Pirie and Waymouth streets.
At a workshop meeting on Tuesday night, Cr Philip Martin branded the proposal a “dud” — and suggested reviving 2016 plans for a separated bikeway down Flinders and Franklin streets.
The old plans were put on hold because of strong trader backlash, however, council staff told the Flinders and Franklin would still be the best option.
Cr Martin, who was against the Waymouth St plan, said the council should not have turned its back on the original decision.
“There is one option, there was always one, Flinders and Franklin,” Cr Martin said.
“I am appalled that this matter is back in the hands of the elected body, having made a clear decision in 2016 that an east-west bikeway would be located on Flinders and Franklin.”
The Advertiser reported earlier this week that a bikeway down Pirie and Waymouth would have removed 363 car parks and 63 motorcycle bays.
The $5.5 million bikeway has been in the pipeline since July 2016.
The council agreed the route down Flinders and Franklin was “low stress and comfortable experience” for cyclists, but that was shunned in November 2017 because traders said it would damage business.
Last April, the council decided to look into whether Waymouth and Pirie streets would be a better option, despite an earlier study finding they would be too narrow.
Cr Robert Simms said if a bikeway down Pirie and Waymouth does not go ahead, the Flinders and Franklin plan should be revived.
“I get the sense that support for that option (Pirie and Waymouth) is evaporating … if this is not a live option, we should go back to Flinders and Franklin and advance that,” Cr Simms said.
Deputy Lord Mayor Alexander Hyde said a Pirie and Waymouth bikeway should be “categorically ruled out” because the street is often at capacity.
However, he thought a bike lane down Wakefield and Grote streets was the best way forward.
Should the council go ahead with a bikeway down Flinders and Franklin street, it would have to rescind its 2017 decision. City council planning executive Shanti Ditter said the former plans would need to be reviewed because they prepared “some time ago”.
A report would have to go before a council committee for discussion and then a council meeting. The council and the State Government have contributed to funding, and that has to be spent by June 2021.