Bendigo City
About this page
Greater Bendigo is a major regional centre servicing the towns and rural areas of the Loddon region, about 150 kms north west of Melbourne. The population is just under 100,000.
Bendigo City Centre to get 'naked streets'
Nov 07 Bendigo City Council recently unveiled plans to alter Bendigo's CBD by narrowing spaces for cars and returning the town's ultra-wide streets to walkers and cyclists. Curbs will be eliminated and replaced with paving to mark out the narrow places cars can drive and park.
Council wants the street redesign to slow down cars from their current 30 km/h to less than 20 km/h. This initiative will help to change the 'feel' of the Bendigo CBD and encourage people to walk or ride.
See the recent AGE article >>
New bike lanes on Bendigo EagleHawk Rd
May 07 VicRoads will soon install 2.5km of bike lanes on the Bendigo Eaglehawk Rd to complete the link from the Loddon Valley Highway to the central Bendigo district at Bridge St. This will help provide an important commuter link from this highly populated area toward of the centre of town. VicRoads expect this project to be complete by June.
Bendigo City Council resolves to become the Cycling Centre of Victoria.
Apr 07 Council recently passed a motion to increase cycling activity by building on existing infrastructure, events and promotion activities. Bendigo is well placed to increase rider numbers due to its great climate, moderately flat terrain, and a strong riding culture.
This could lead to some exciting projects such as:
- The O'Keefe (Bendigo to Heathcote) Rail Trail
- Completion of the the Bendigo Creek Path
- Building on existing involvement in Ride2School
- Sunday Curcuits
Bicycle Victoria is looking forward to building on our existing good relationship with council to help meet its goal of becoming the cycling centre of Victoria.
Bendigo Creek Path
Nov 06 Council have just finished an extension to the Bendigo Creek Path, linking Kangaroo Ground to Big Hill, giving more residents access to the offroad network reaching Caruso Reservoir.
A high quality, wide surface with additional new bridges was $235k well spent.
More new lanes and paths
Feb 06 6km of roads in Bendigo will gain bike lanes under this years Principal Bicycle Routes funding. The projects will cost over $500 000.
New bike lanes and paths
Aug 05 Funding has been announced for bike lanes from Bridge Street, along Arnold St and Sandhurst Rd, to the intersection of Eaglehawk Rd, as park of a two-year project.
A bike path will be built between Kangaroo Flat and Bendigo and along Eaglehawk Rd, Eaglehawk.
Walking and cycling strategy
Jul 05 Bendigo City Council has appointed consultants to prepare a walking and cycling strategy. The purpose is to develop a Works Program to continue developing a complete cycling/walking network and to recommend better ways to promote and manage trails and paths.
Community consultation will take place over the next few months.
Cycling survey results
Dec 04 Results of a survey by Bicycle Victoria showed wide support for council providing more places for people to ride their bikes. There is a strong expectation that the new council will commit to completing vital cycling projects.
In Greater Bendigo the survey showed particularly strong support for better cycling links into the city centre.
Over half of respondents rated the following projects as vitally important or very important to cycling:
- completing the O’Keefe Rail trail from Axedale to Heathcote
- completing the Bendigo Ck Trail through town centre including path along Rosalind Park and crossing of Pall Mall intersection
- improved and extended bike lanes along Bendigo-Eaglehawk Road.
Bicycle Victoria invited people from across Victoria to indicate which cycling projects were important to their community. There was immense interest with almost 2000 responses. The response rate was particularly high in Greater Bendigo.
Bicycle Victoria, in cooperation with local groups, will be working with the new council to make sure the projects identified are high priorities for the new council.
Feb 04 Mayor, Rod Fyffe, met with Bicycle Victoria's campaigns staff to discuss cycling issues in Bendigo. Council is in the process of developing a bicycle strategy. Bicycle Victoria’s priorities are:
- completing the gap in the Bendigo Creek Trail through Rosalind Park
- installing bike lanes on Barndard/Lucan St, Lyttleton Tce, View/Mitchell St.& Pall Mall
- Feasibility study to look at how the O'Keefe rail trail can be connected to Heathcote
- Upgrading the surface and increasing the tourism exposure of the rail trail.
The bike strategy will be developed over the next few months and should have a supporter in the CEO, John McLean, who is a keen cyclist.