Bicycle Network Victoria: Metro Routes

Buckley Street Lanes arrive

15 June 2011. VicRoads has started to mark out bike lane along Buckley Street in Footscray between Arbran St and the West Footscray Railway Station—a major development for riders in the western suburbs.

This will provide riders in the west a viable route to link in with the recently completed path along the north side of the rail corridor ('1' on diagram below) out to Ashley Street. From a broader context this route has the potential to become the equivolent of the Gardiners Creek/Yarra Trail of the west.

The layout is generally good however there are a couple of intersections where VicRoads have left bikes stranded (refer 2, 4 and 5).
View the detailed plans here.

Whilst the 'teardrop site' redevelopment at the eastern end of Buckley St (number 5) inlcuded a bike lane on the inbound side it stops well short of the Hyde St intersection and is complemented by a substandard path along the south side (number 6) which VicRoads failed to meet their mainstreaming commitment despite Bicycle Vicotria's pleas to look after riders.

A narrow, poorly aligned path with challenging sight lines shared with pedestrians is the result.

At the time the project team responsible for the tear drop site were asking the VicRoads region to provide the solution and the region were looking to the now seemingly shelved Truck Action Plan to help out also.

Riders can feel justifiably miffed as to why their needs have slipped through the cracks on this vital link which will govern the success or otherwise of all bike infrastructure investment anywhere west of this point. It is effectively the junction of all bike routes to the west and entering the Footscray Central Activity District. The funds committed to the Shepherds Bridge bike link (8) are yet to be spent, the Whitehall crossing (7) was held up while the Truck Action Plan and Whitehall St upgrade were resolved and the teardrop section (6) is yet to addressed.

Bicycle Network Victoria has also been in discussions with the Regional Rail Link (RRL)  team to ensure a postive outcome for bikes to retain a viable link (2) between these Buckley St lanes and the Cross St path(1), completing the shared path from Ashley St to the Sunshine Station precinct and a viable link across the Sunshine Station area and provide a facility along the RRL corridor to at least Ring Rd and preferably to the Deer Park Bypass ('Wellness') Trail.

Route needs investigation

08 July 2010 Bicycle Network Victoria has approached VicRoads and outlined that we believe this link is the number one priority in the VicRoads NorthWest region. With the potential to be the major link to the western suburbs and connecting to the soon to be completed path west of West Footscray station, the link into Docklands desperately needs to be made a reality.

We are looking to State Government to deliver this route. The Regional Rail Link is being asked to include the Ashley St to Sunshine section to the west.
The Truck Action Plan is being asked to incorporate a solution to the Shephards Bridge/Maribyrnong River Crossing and westwards across Moreland St to Whitehall St.

This leaves the West Footscray to Shephards bridge section.

Bikes to piggy-back on rail and truck links

18 November 2009. Three major projects in the inner west could deliver additional outcomes for bikes.

The challenges along this section of the Western Rail Path corridor are:

• North-South crossing of rail corridor at Western Oval
• Buckley and Napier Streets
• Maribyrnong River and Sims Street crossing

Additionally the Truck Action Plan is looking at more efficient freight movements along Footscray and Whitehall Roads. This may involve a major reworking of the Footscray Road and Moreland Street (Docklands Highway) intersection.

Retaining bikes in that traffic mix would hinder the desired outcome. Bicycle Network Victoria has made presentations to the project scoping group suggesting that a separated and potentially elevated structure could take bikes from the west side of Moreland Street, across the Maribyrnong River and also the Sim Street slip lane. This would be a major project and would provide a good result not only for bikes but also the freight industry.

The Regional Rail Link project is currently looking at the upgrade of the rail line. You can read more on that here.

The Linking Melbourne Authority (MLA) have started looking at a freight solution between the Deer Park Bypass and the Docks area east of the Maribyrnong River. Bicycle Network Victoria believes that the Government should include bikes in the solution as part of their 'mainstreaming' of bikes as part of all major road and rail projects commitment.

These projects should deliver a sound outcome for bikes along the Western Rail Corridor, particularly west of the Ring Road through to Footscray Road.

Maribyrnong City Council will soon start construction of a path along Cross Street on the northern side of the rail corridor. This could link up to a separated route along Buckley and Napier Streets, via the West Footscray Rail overpass, to the Footscray Road path, incorporating the elevated structure across the Maribyrnong River mentioned above.

We have had initial discussions with the MLA and will soon submit a more detailed scope in regard to the Regional Rail Link and 'WestLink' (truck tunnel) projects.

The Truck Action Plan group have already approached Bicycle Network Victoria to seek our input on bike route opportunities in relation to the Federation Trail 'missing link' between Millers Road and Hyde Street. 

Victorian transport Plan opportunity

1 September 2009 The Victorian Transport Plan released in December 2008 announced a number of big ticket projects. The so called 'WestLink' project is a freight initiative linking the Geelong Rd and the Docks area. The Melbourne Linking Authority (previously known as SEITA) have been appointed to oversee the investigation of this project.

This part of inner Melbourne is also a strong focus for the State's Cycling Strategy and it appears the corridor of intetn of the 'WestLink' project may be common to the Western Rail Path corridor as identified in the Cycling Strategy. This presents a great opprtunity for the government to deliver on their 'mainstreaming' commitment to incorporate bike infrastructure as part of major road and rail projetcs 'as a matter of course'.