Bicentennial - Stage 3 begins

Image sourced from biking brisbane

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/plan-to-satisfy-hungry-thirsty-cyclists-20130121-2d23a.html

Construction on Stage 3 of the Bicentennial Bikeway upgrade has finally begun and it is to be welcomed. While it will mean 6 months of construction and slight inconvenience the results will be worth it.

Stage 3 is no doubt the trickiest part of the upgrade so far. At this point the bikeway runs between Coronation drive and the former Drift Restaurant on the river. This makes what is already a very narrow corridor to upgrade at the narrowest point into a contemporary Active Transport arterial even more challenging. To make it possible part of the bank supporting Coronation Drive is going to be partly dug into and the pedestrian path will go hard up against the former restaurant. As well as this the notorious bridge just before the restaurant is going to be duplicated so that each mode has it's own bridge. Then there is the ground which is terribly unstable, so much so that is to be stabilised with piling work so it doesn't fall into the river. All in all it is alot of very tricky work for a mear 520meters of upgrade but I can honestly see where the $8 million is going.

Stage 3 is sandwiched in between stage 1 & stage 2. This has currently resulted in the confusing situation of the path going from segregated to shared and back to segregated. At the moment it is the bottle neck on the corridor with the notorious bridge being the pinch point. After the works are completed Brisbane will finally have a Active Transport arterial that will extend from Land St Toowong into the CBD. While this will mean only 3 kms has been built to contemporary standards it is an important 3kms. It will mean the thousand plus bicycle movements coming from the Western Freeway Bikeway will be catered for with no need for mixing it up with pedestrian movements.

Since the upgrades to the Bicentennial Bikeway began back in 2009 use has jumped from over 4000 bicycle/pedestrian movements to now over 5500 movements a day. This is indeed an impressive figure as it shows that there has been a 30% jump in just 3 years. This has to be put down to the upgrades, as figures I have sighted showed before the upgrades begun Bicentennial had reached a plato where use had dropped in 2005 only to bounce back in 2006 with the opening of the Western Freeway path to Jindalee. Once Stage 3 is completed further increases in usage will surly occur due to the removal on the main pinch point. It will be interesting what the patronage of  Bicentennial will be this time Next Year.

Once Stage 3 is finished bring on the final Stage, Stage 4.

Centenary Bikeway Axed - E-partition

The disgust that is within the "cycling community" regarding the axing of the Centenary Bikeway from the Centenary Transport Corridor has certainly not gone away. This morning a E-petitions appeared on the Queensland Parliaments Website calling for the reinstatement of the bikeway in the project. Naturally it has been sponsored by the local member (member of the opersition) but not the Opersition Leader whos seat also is effected by it's axing.

E-petitions are official in Queensland and therefore will be tabled in Parliament. I and many others have already signed it. I would urge you if you live in Queensland  to sign it because decisions like the axing of this bikeway set a presedent on other project that may have bicycle provisions removed or downgraded.

Centenary Bikeway Axed - further condemnation

To the great surprise of many, Bicycle Queensland came out with this statement on Thursday.

BQ seeking meeting with Minister over axed bikeway

11 October 2012

Bicycle Queensland is seeking a meeting with Transport Minister Scott Emerson to discuss the axing of a bikeway from Richlands to Springfield.

Bicycle Queensland Manager Ben Wilson said the deletion of the planned bikeway would lead to more people driving, fewer people cycling and less safety for people riding bicycles.

“We are concerned with the severance of the Springfield community from the existing bikeway network, local and longer destinations including Oxley, Indooroopilly, Toowong and Brisbane CBD due to the loss of a safe crossing of the Logan Motorway,” he said.

A popular Cairns bikeway is also under threat - Bicycle Queensland is dismayed at the unacceptable and retrograde proposal to remove part of the State and Cairns Council funded Aeroglen bikeway for car parking.
 

Why was this surprising? Well in most cases BQ almost never says a bad word against any level of government. The fact that BQ has publicly said something must mean they must be upset.

On top of this "Rail Back on Track" a lobby group for better public transport has also been critical. See this quest article. This has been taken from there media release in which is stated

The planned bicycle/foot path linking Richlands and Springfield has been discarded in favour of a road upgrade. Without the bike-way and with the extra road lanes, the Centenary Highway will reach its capacity more quickly."

"Rather then address the real basis for congestion, too many people travelling in cars, they have chosen to further worsen congestion by also not optimising the railway presently being constructed from Richlands to Springfield."

And this is the truth. Congestion is this area is being caused by to many cars. People have no choice but to drive and fill up the roads.  The original plan of a multi-modal corridor needs to be reinstated where Bike, Road & rail is all built along side each other to give people a real choice.