Bayswater Bike Boulevard Stage 2 not approved by council

[Red Rider]

At the 17 April council meeting it was decided by a vote of 5-4 to not approve Stage 2 of the Bayswater Bike Boulevard, with traffic issues being cited as the reason.

http://www.bayswater.wa.gov.au/cproot/9 ... inutes.pdf

BACKGROUND
The Bayswater to Morley Bike Boulevard project is an important strategic cycling connection for the City of Bayswater and supports the City's transport goals.
The project is part of a larger Safe Active Streets (SAS) program being rolled out across Perth, led by DoT.
The aim of the boulevard is to provide more options for people to travel safely for local and commute trips, prioritising active travel by creating a safe, comfortable, convenient riding environment for bike riders with all levels of experience.
The planned route connects Riverside Gardens to the Morley City Centre. Connecting four schools being Bayswater Primary, St Columba's Primary, Chisholm Catholic College and John Forrest College. Construction of Stage 1 of the route along Leake Street and May Street was
completed in September 2017. Stage 2 has now undergone two phases of community consultation, of which are summarised in this report.

The result was against the recommendations of the technical officer. The officer's report concludes:

CONCLUSION
As detailed in the consultation report there is a strong level of opposition to Stage 2 of the Bike Boulevard from residents with properties on the route. Notwithstanding this there is a higher level of support with the responses from the wider community. In this regards it is interesting to note that some of the residents on the route verbally indicated that they would support the project if it was on another street. The difficulty for Council in this case, as in the case in many instances, is in balancing the wishes of a particular section of the community against those of the wider community. The Bike Boulevard is an aspirational project aimed at promoting cycling in a safe
environment and it is acknowledged that it will take time for the true benefits of such a project to be adequately assessed. When adopting a project like this there are risks associated with being an 'early adopter', however this risk needs to be addressed against the potential benefits that can come from being an innovator and 'leader of the pack'.
It is recommended that the council continues to support the implementation of the bike boulevard and accordingly Option 1 is recommended.

REASON FOR CHANGE
The Committee changed the officer's recommendation as it was of the opinion that there had been some issues with traffic caused by Stage 1 of the Bike Boulevard and the Committee was not satisfied that there would not be similar issues with traffic with Stage
2 of the plan.

This is an interesting reason given that I could not find any traffic issues with Stage 1 in the report. There were however some concerns for Stage 2 which the Transport Impact Statement confirmed it was unlikely to have any significant impact on congestion and parking.

I've heard that at last night's (26 June) meeting some residents supportive of Stage 2 talked to the council and were told that they would look at it again. I'm not sure of the specifics of what is happening but this is hopeful news.

A petition can be signed at https://www.change.org/p/city-of-bayswa ... -boulevard

[trailgumby]

I've heard that at last night's (26 June) meeting some residents supportive of Stage 2 talked to the council and were told that they would look at it again. I'm not sure of the specifics of what is happening but this is hopeful news.

A petition can be signed at https://www.change.org/p/city-of-bayswa ... -boulevard

Those things are a complete waste of time. They are ignored, pretty much treated as a single response regardless of signature numbers.

Instead, get everyone in your BUG to write to councilllors independently and in their own words. This carries vastly more weight.

[Scott_C]

Instead, get everyone in your BUG to write to councilllors independently and in their own words. This carries vastly more weight.

Also note that 4 of the 9 Councillors are already in favour of the proposal so you only need to get 1 of the following 5 Councillors to change their view in order for the project to be approved:

Cr Dan Bull (Mayor), Cr Brent Fleeton, Cr Lorna Clarke, Cr Catherine Ehrhardt, and Cr Sally Palmer.

Given that the project is proposed to be fully funded by DoT it seems crazy for the council to be denying safety improvements for students cycling to school (including the provision of 3 signalised crossings) because of vague concerns about "traffic" in the previous stage of the project.

I think there are some genuine concerns about Stage 1 (in particular I am of the opinion that the contra-flow lane on Railway Parade is unsafe and potentially illegal to use in the contra-flow direction due to violating Road Rule 114) but that doesn't apply to the Stage 2 designs.

[Red Rider]

Also note that Cr Brent Fleeton (who raised the motion) is resigning his post as of tomorrow. I'm not sure what happens with the vacancy. It is definitely worth writing the other four councillors.

[pedalmonkey]

I don't actually know what is involved in this Bayswater Bike Boulevard but if it's anything like the one near me in Mt Hawthorn, it's a complete waste of time anyway.

The government had the wonderful idea of taking a normal, wide, two lane suburban road perfectly safe for cycling and to "improve" it by building road furniture that forces both directions of traffic through a series of single-car-width chicanes. When a car heading north confronts a cyclist heading south at one of these chicanes, who do you think has to give way?

[XIX]

Mt Hawthorn is full of rat routes, they created the bike boulevard to redirect traffic away. I am not sure about the Bayswater one, but Bayswater is also full of rat routes so I expect it will be for the same reason.

[Scott_C]

Mt Hawthorn is full of rat routes, they created the bike boulevard to redirect traffic away. I am not sure about the Bayswater one, but Bayswater is also full of rat routes so I expect it will be for the same reason.

No, the Bayswater one is primarily about cycling connectivity to/from the river RSP and Midland line PSP from the Bayswater activity centres as the route was already closed to motor vehicle through traffic (bike/pedestrian underpass at the railway and a couple of culs-de-sac roads with 10m bike path connections).

[XIX]

Mt Hawthorn is full of rat routes, they created the bike boulevard to redirect traffic away. I am not sure about the Bayswater one, but Bayswater is also full of rat routes so I expect it will be for the same reason.

No, the Bayswater one is primarily about cycling connectivity to/from the river RSP and Midland line PSP from the Bayswater activity centres as the route was already closed to motor vehicle through traffic (bike/pedestrian underpass at the railway and a couple of culs-de-sac roads with 10m bike path connections).

This is not the case for stage 2. Other than the Edward st cul de sac the rest of it is open. I personally think its great in Mt Hawthorn and great in Bayswater, and hope they do more elsewhere as well.