Way back in 2020, the state government committed to more bike lanes in South Brisbane, and allocated $10 million, as part of an election commitment. And we’ve been chasing the state Labor government and holding them to this commitment ever since.
In 2021, we got it confirmed that the Department of Transport and Main Roads were looking to install a separated bikeway along Vulture Street – to connect the Woolloongabba Stanley Street bikeway to West End.
In 2022, as a part of this project the state government gave money to the Council to run a ‘South Brisbane Active Travel Study’, which got over 400 responses from the community. Apart from a very brief summary on the BCC website, the results of this consultation have not yet been made public, but we know that 76% of respondents were positive about separated pathways for cycling and walking.
Now we’ve finally got some draft concept designs and costings for two separated bikeways and a safer street treatment:
- One protected bikeways running east-west along Vulture Street from Montague Road, West End to Main Street, Kangaroo Point
- The other protected bikeway running north-south along Browning Street and Melbourne Street from Vulture Street, West End to Cordelia Street, South Brisbane
- A “green street” treatment and 30 km/hr speed limits on Boundary Street
You can have a look at all the draft concept designs here.
While getting at least a draft design is an exciting step towards getting this crucial piece of cycling infrastructure, we’re still waiting on the Labor state government and the LNP Council to fully fund these projects.
Here’s how much they think it’ll cost:
The total cost is estimated to be $22.07 million. But right now the state government has only committed $9.6 million towards the “South Brisbane bike network”, and the council hasn’t committed anything. This isn’t enough to complete the project.
Cr Trina Massey and I will keep pushing the council and the state government to fully fund these critical bike lanes, and to find out what the next steps will be now we’ve got these draft designs off them.
We’ll of course be pushing to make sure there is more community consultation on these designs before they build them – to make sure we iron out any potential issues before they’re built. But in the meantime, if you have any feedback on them, please get in touch with my office [email protected] or Trina’s at [email protected], to let us know what you think.