Bicycle Network: Metro Routes

Market St gets the treatment

1 June 2009. The City of Melbourne has just completed the installation of bicycle lanes in Market St, a popular entry point to the CBD.

The Super Tuesday counts showed over 250 riders use Market St to get into town. This is a 60% increase over the last 12 months and shows that the small improvements along Banana Alley and retaining the lanes along Queensbridge St have been money well spent.

This street has proved popular due to its superior connectivity from the river and the CBD than the nearby William St section between Flinders and Collins St.

There is stll the awkward southbound approach to Flinders St, which we will be raising with the City of Melbourne to get prioritised for review.

MCC muscles up on Queensbridge

9 February 2009. Tough talk by the City of Melbourne has forced CitiPower to fix a section of the Queensbridge Street bike lane near Crown Casino that was ruined late last year.

The lane had been excavated but the road was re-instated in poor condition with no bike lane makings or symbols.

This resulted in motor traffic reclaiming the lane and forcing bikes out.

Following complaints by riders Melbourne City ordered CitiPower to fix the problem within five days.

This had the desired impact and the problem has now been corrected.

Previously open for business 24/7, bike route to be slashed to 3 hours a day.

3 December 2008. The Westgate Alliance has informed us that despite Bicycle Network Victoria's best efforts to come to a workable solution they are still proposing to severely downgrade the bike facility on Queensbridge St.

This means riders will lose the current wide 'premium' chevroned lane, present 24 hours a day. This route gets riders to get to Moray St, popular to and from the south.

In its place will be a poor replacement available for only 3 hours of the day with riders being confronted by an abrupt end to the lane at its southern end where the curb outstand begins. Our key asks are:

• retain a high quality bike facility, full time, southbound along Queensbridge St
• close the gap in the lane to reach City Rd intersection
• Introduce an advance signal at City Rd, allowing riders to get across to Moray St without the need to ride acros the southbound traffic stream

The original February proposal is available here. We have met with the Alliance on a number of occasions to go through the implications of this however little progress has been made. The last correspondence recieved spoke of a Storage box being introduced at the City Rd approach; a token gesture at best.

Queensbridge St is managed by the City of Melbourne and can only proceed with their support. We have asked to them to join our opposition to the Alliance's proposal.

Market/Queensbridge/Moray Streets was identified by the City of Melbourne as a Priority Route in the bicycle strategy updated in 2008.

At a time when bikes now represent 10% of traffic entering the CBD, all levels of government should be looking to bikes as a quick, easy and cheap way to solve congestion. You can show you support by writing to the relevant stakeholders by clicking here. 

Bikes to lose on Queensbridge St

10 Sept 2008 As part of the State Government's M1 widening project, the Westgate Alliance is proposing to remodel Queensbridge St to service a new on-ramp south of City Road. As a result, the current exclusive bike lane is proposed to be removed and replaced with a lesser Clearway bike lane.

As the image (right) shows, the current facility is a 'premium' bike lane with chevrons on the outside, strongly delineating the space between vehicles and bikes.

The Westgate Alliance wish to create two full time vehicle lanes, beyond the current single lane. It proposes to achieve this by removing the bike lane.

With the removal of the eastbound Burnley Tunnel on-ramp from Power st, Queensbridge St left-turning vehicles should not need a left turn lane on approach to City Rd, as they can utilise Power Street. As a result, we believe bikes should also be accommodated up to the City Rd intersection. We have also asked the project team to investigate an advanced phase at the City Rd signals to allow bikes and pedestrians to avoid the current gauntlet when heading south without having to navigate across two lanes of traffic when entering Moray Street. You can show your support by writing to the Westgate Alliance. Remember to keep it positive.

Bicycle Network Victoria has met with the project team and stated our case in opposition to the proposed design and we are awaiting a formal response.