Bicycle Network: Support & Promote

Bicycle Network Victoria assists VicRoads and AITPM on their bicycle-specific training programs for traffic engineers. The aim of the workshop is to provide road-traffic engineers with technical knowledge and practical skills for designing bicycle facilities.

Bicycle Network Victoria staff work with VicRoads to devise and present the full day workshop, which covers all aspects of bicycle facility design.

It is based on a similar workshop presented by Bicycle Network Victoria at the Australian Institute of Traffic Planning and Management National Conference in June 2001.

The workshops include:

• presentation of examples of innovative work already carried out
• practical exercises for designing bike lanes and shared paths
• an afternoon bike tour of exisitng cycling facilities.

Since it is the engineers and planners who will design and build the lanes and paths it is important they have a cyclist's perspective of what works and what does not.

In the afternoon the engineers and planners take to bikes and a guided tour of Richmond and the Yarra Trail. The tour takes in a range of cycling facilities, both good (the red bike lanes on Burnley St, Richmond) and bad (the rough shared path near Melbourne Girls College). The purpose is to look at existing bicycle design features and assess their effectiveness.

Discussions take place around the importance of width, surface and design to the safety and comfort of cyclists. The workshop participants leave with a greater understanding of what does and does not work for cyclists.

The lessons that the participants take from the workshop will, when applied, result in better cycling facilities. Better cycling facilities mean people feel safer and more comfortable riding. The end result of Bicycle Network Victoria’s involvement is more people cycling more often.

Wednesday 2 August 2006
2006 AITPM National Conference

Melbourne 2–4 August 2006
Hotel Sofitel, Melbourne
Bicycle Network Victoria workshop and technical tour 9:30am–5:00pm
Technical tour – on road and off road cycle paths around Melbourne.

For further details refer to the attached document (PDF 711KB)