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Sydney pop-up lanes underway

Work has begun on the City of Sydney’s six new pop-up bike lanes.

The 10km of adaptable bike lanes will connect the city's cycleways to make it easier to ride as coranavirus restrictions ease and people begin to go back to work.

Three pop-up lanes will open later this month with the rest to be ready in July.

The City of Sydney announced the project in May following calls to capitalise on the increase in bike riding during lockdown (51% in some areas) and encourage more people to ride to the city.

Urban think tank, the Committee of Sydney, said that cycling is one of the best ways to move large numbers of people while maintaining physical distance and wants the city to reclaim roads for active forms of transport.

“Do we want to exacerbate congestion and pollution by encouraging car use or reduce traffic on the roads by getting more people cycling?” Chief Executive Gabriel Metcalf told the Australian Financial Review.

“It’s vital that we choose the latter option.”

Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore said, as virus restrictions ease, people should be encouraged to walk and ride.

"Pop-up cycleways are adaptable, inexpensive and built using easy-to-install infrastructure, such as painted road markings, temporary kerbs, lane dividers and flexible poles," Ms Moore said.

Bicycle Network Chief Executive Officer Craig Richards said that we can’t go back to the old ways of packed public transport and congested roads.

“Pop-up bike lanes are cheap and can be designed and installed in less than two weeks, but the clock is ticking,” said Mr Richards.

The construction gives Sydney an early lead in Bicycle Network’s Pop-Up Bike Lane League, but the City of Melbourne is closing the gap after announcing 40km of adaptable bike lanes.

Click here to read more in this Australian Financial Review article.

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