South: St Kilda Rd-Brighton Rd-Nepean Hwy
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One of Melbourne's best loved boulevards needs to be improved for bike riders.
St Kilda Rd: Arts Centre tram stop improvements
01 July 2008. Recent tram track reconfiguration works adjacent to the Arts Centre between Southbank Boulevard and Princes Bridge has resulted in a welcome initiative for the thousands of riders who use this route every day.
Over coming weeks riders will notice the arrival of a previously missing bike lane northbound in the St Kilda Rd Slip Lane, along with a priority phase at the pedestrian lights just south of Princes Bridge.
This means riders will be able to cross the bridge without competing with vehicles whilst crossing the bridge bottleneck.
This advance phase will be incorporated into the signals shortly, so keep an eye out.
As Melbourne faces growing congestion issues projects like this are one of the many ways Bicycle Victoria believes that the State Government can help ease congestion and get more people cycling more often.
Blackspot goes green
Nov 07 One of Melbourne's top cycling blackspots has been upgraded by getting a green lane at the Louise St intersection. This location has been identified as one of Victoria's fourth worst accident blackspot for bike riders.
St Kilda Rd is Melbourne's busiest on road cycling routes into the CBD so this relatively modest project will benefit many riders. City of Melbourne will also be applying green treatments in coming months to Arden St, Queensberry St, Elizabeth St, Latrobe (approach to Swanston) and Swanston St opposite the City Baths.
Melbourne Marathon Road Closures
Sep 07 There will be some road closures on Sunday 7 October due to the Melbourne Marathon. The event starts and finishes at the MCG and entrants will head out and back along a course that includes St Kilda Rd, Fitzroy St, Lakeside Drive and along Beach Rd to the turnaround at Mildura Avenue (Sandringham Club).
The course will close some roads and streets in the cities of Bayside, Port Phillip and Melbourne between the hours of 7:00am and 1:00pm.
Brighton Rd
Aug 07 VicRoads have been caught in the act!
Caught improving conditions for riders that is. Southbound Brighton Rd riders have often lacked confidence due to the myriad of entering and turning movements from both Hotham and Glenhuntly Roads.
We recently spotted a team applying green lanes to help clarify conditions for all road users.
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We observed the crew first masking out the existing white lines, including the Bike logo (see above, top left).
Next a 2-part epoxy mix was prepared (above top right), then applied to the road surface within the masked area (see above lower left). Then a green tumbled basalt/glass mix was applied (see above lower right).
This then adheres and settles. We look forward to posting photos of the finished product once it has settled.
Lane improvements at Flinders St Station
May 07 Melbourne City Council have just finished applying new green lanes to reduce conflict along Melbourne's busiest cycling route. The approach to Flinders St statistically represents the most dangerous element of this route with an average of 12.5 crashes occurring outside Flinders St Station each year. 78% of the crashes at this site were when riders hit opening car doors.
Bicycle Victoria welcomes this initiative at a very complex and difficult situation. Continuing improvements will probably be needed as movements at this location can be varied and on many occasions 'cross stream'. With taxis wanting to pull into the rank, exiting the rank and the lefthand turn into Flinders St there is still potential for further conflict. We will be working with Melbourne City Council to further improve Melbourne's busiest cycling intersection.
The green lane and the advance bicycle-lantern allow the majority of riders to negotiate the entrance to the CBD safely.
There are still many 'cross stream' movements which cause conflicts which paint alone will not stop.
This rider had one driver crossing in front across the green and a taxi coming across the green behind. The unpredictable nature of these movements really keeps commuters on their toes!
Melbourne City Council vote for public consultation
6 March 07 Melbourne City Council have voted to proceed and go out for public consultation for further comment. Council will also commission an independent traffic modeling study so that a more precise understanding of what the current traffic movements are and what potential implications may arise from the introduction of separated bike lanes.
Traffic study needed to show 'Copenhagen' Bike lanes will work
2 March 07 The Minister for Roads Tim Pallas stated that he would not support the City of Melbourne proposal for Copenhagen bike lanes on St Kilda Road. He has based this on a belief that installing the bike lanes will increase motor vehicle congestion into the city.
Bicycle Victoria is calling for VicRoads and Melbourne City Council to conduct a study of vehicle movements on this road. This is needed because current vehicle numbers using St Kilda Road do not support the Minister's statement that removing a motor vehicle lane will increase congestion.
We believe a study will show that congestion on St Kilda Road is not caused primarily by the number of motor vehicle lanes. It is likely that the main causes of congestion will be identified as interruptions to vehicle flow including busy cross roads and numerous traffic lights.
City of Melbourne to turn St Kilda Road into a world class bike route.
1 March 07 The City of Melbourne's masterplan for St Kilda Road will see 'Copenhagen' style bike lanes for the length of St Kilda Road. This project will greatly increase the number of people riding bikes into Melbourne's CBD as it will provide a car free route from St Kilda junction into the heart of the CBD, see photo to right.
Council will vote to adopt the masterplan on Tuesday March 6th.
Fawkner Park Masterplan
Jun 05 City of Melbourne has just concluded a series of public consultations with respect to the development and implementation of a master plan for Fawkner Park which will provide a 10 year vision for the park, guiding future use, works etc.
Fawkner Park currently provides many cyclists with important and safe links to/from the city to the southern suburbs. Issues we identified during the consultation period relevant to bike users were:
Bicycle Victoria made a submission to the Fawkner Park Masterplan. We requested the following:
- Preserve the current Toorak Rd to Commercial Rd shared path should as it is a popular commuter route for cyclists.
- Designate the paths from Park St to Pasley St and Pasley St North as shared paths. Many people leave St. Kilda Road either at Linlithgow Av or Govt. House Dr and continue along Birdwood Av to avoid the Domain Interchange. These people then continue down Park Street which has ample space between parked cars and the tram line and cross into Fawkner Park. From here they ride either down a path to Pasley St or Pasley St North or find their way to the main shared path and ride to Commercial Road.
Recommendations on improvements to these routes through the park and also to access to the park should include:
- Put in bike symbols on Park St - between parked cars and tram / vehicle lane
- Look at installing bike through lane (green paint)
- Look at installing bike storage box;
- Install pram crossing adjacent to park and opposite intersection to allow cyclists and other users to enter shared path at this location
- Formalise shared paths with signage within park
- Create Shared path on Punt Road from Park Lane to Commercial Road.
- Formalise Clearway lanes on Commercial Road.
Melbourne BUG also made a submission (PDF 179K).
The draft masterplan will be released for public comment in August 2005. We look forward to receiving this and thank the City of Melbourne for involving Bicycle Victoria during the process.
