Newsroom

Highway bypass produces new Perth bike lanes

The Midland Highway project has given local bike riders new off-road and on-road lanes between Perth and the Breadalbane roundabout.

The new highway diverts north of Perth, leaving one lane of the old highway as a new local road at 70km/h.

The state government has taken advantage of the diversion to install a new off-road path and on-road lanes on the now local road.

Our Social Rides leader, Di Eliffe, was in the area recently scouting new ride routes and took photos of the lanes (below).

While it’s great that the state government’s positive provisioning policy is incorporating bicycle facilities in new road projects, these lanes still have a few finishing touches to improve their connection and separation.

The government and Northern Midlands Council intend to extend the southern on-road section of lane into a new shared path that will connect to Arthur Street in Perth, as part of the next stage of the Highway project.

This will mean that people can easily ride from Perth to nearby Devon Hills separated from high-speed traffic and for touring cyclists it’s another link from the airport on a much quieter, and more comfortable route.

There also needs to be more line-marking and bollards to make the buffer distance between drivers and the on-road path more obvious, as well as arrows and signage so people understand the on-road lane is bi-directional.

It’s encouraging to see the state government start to factor on-road separated cycleways into their road building projects as they are safer for people cycling and provide more certainty for people driving.