Bicycle Network

Bike Futures

Skip to main content or skip to "Also in this section menu".

Search this website
Councils - Regional Victoria

Ararat Rural City Council

Ararat is approximately 200 kilometres northwest of Melbourne with a population of just over 11,000 in the local council area. The town was established in the 1857 gold rush.

Ararat riders - drafting of council Budget 2013/14 underway

05 March 2013. As you read this Council is preparing its draft 2013/14 Budget. The time to act is now for more bike infrastructure funding!

As a ratepayer and rider now is the time for Council to hear from you if you want more funding to improve the local riding environment.

Click here to tell your Council to invest in bike infrastructure (E-mail contact for Council provided) in the 2013/14 Budget.

What's happening in Ararat

Nov 07 Bicycle Network Victoria recently spoke with Don Phillips from the Ararat Rural City Council about developments in bike infrastructure for Ararat and the surrounding towns.

Ararat Council is in the fortunate position of already having bike lanes on most main roads in towns. This means Council has been working to improve the links between town centres and the local schools, sporting facilities and residential area. Long term projects include developing better end of trip facilities in order to give bike riders an alternative to driving their cars to town.

The Council has allocated $20,000 for 2007-08 which will be spent on maintenance and upgrades to bike paths. One of the highlights of this is improving some areas of the Cemetery Creek Trail surface from gravel to concrete. This will provide bike riders with a much smoother trip as well as a trail requiring less maintenance.

When broken down to spending per person ($1.66 per person) the bike infrastructure budget compares quite well with outer metropolitan Councils (see BIXE). Bicycle Network Victoria believes that more money could be well spent continuing the development of routes to schools.

Young local riders have been working with Council and the community in the hope of developing a dedicated bike park where they could build jumps and bike circuits. 

If you have any suggestions for the Council on possible improvements for bike riders in their area please email them.

Velodrome has been resurfaced

Apr 04 The velodrome used by the Ararat and District Cycling Club has been resurfaced and will give local people a safe, off-road venue to train or just go for a spin on the bike. The club was established in 1975 and has the only Olympic size (250m) velodrome in regional Victoria.