The City of Hobart has installed signs through Battery Point showing two bicycle routes connecting the Sandy Bay Road lanes with Salamanca and the waterfront.
The signed route is an alternative to riding on Sandy Bay Road once the on-road lanes end, and fills the gap until the Battery Point pathway can get off the ground, or in this case off the water.
There are two routes signed, one utilises more gentler slopes, while the other is more direct but includes the thigh quivering incline of Napoleon Street.
Both routes start in Marieville Esplanade where the footpath lane ends. At the end of the esplanade riders can attempt Napoleon Street or head up Bath Street.
Bath Street is still steep but is manageable for most bike riders and ebike riders wouldn’t blink twice at it.
Once at the top of Bath Street, the route crosses St Georges Terrace into Newcastle Street which it follows around to turn left into De Witt Street. It then heads down Hampden Road, cuts along the side of Narryna Museum and ends on Montepelier Retreat.
The other route, which is best taken going from Hobart towards Sandy Bay, starts in Hampden Road, heads down Colville and Trumpeter streets and onto Napoleon to join up with Marieville Esplanade.
The Battery Point routes would suit riders heading to the waterfront or southern half of the city who don’t want to ride in heavy traffic and don’t mind going a little out of their way to get to their destination.
As discussed in Are quiet streets and alternative to separated cycleways? the route is signed to utilise quiet streets. There are no other safety measures in place along the Bath St route although those streets are mostly narrow with low traffic volumes, and Marieville Esplanade and Napoleon Street have speed humps.
