Northbourne bikes set to go off-road (also Northbourne bus lane/bus way)

[Barry Drive]

From The Canberra Times, 23 April 2010

BY EWA KRETOWICZ ASSEMBLY REPORTER

Moving bicycles off-road on to widened footpaths is the first part of an ACT Government proposal that could see buses driving down the middle of Northbourne Avenue.

Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said $4.5million would be allocated in next month's budget to improve congestion on the capital's main thoroughfare.

''In the upcoming budget we will fund a design study on the initial set-up of developing a bus-only or transit lane on Northbourne Avenue,'' Mr Stanhope said. ''At this stage we are giving serious consideration to moving the on-road cycle paths on to the pathways, but we would reconstruct the pathways double their width if that is the decision we take.''

He said the funding was part of a sustainable transport action plan, Transport for Canberra, to make bus travel more attractive to commuters.

Currently more than 50,000 people travel on Northbourne Avenue every day.

''The possibilities are closing one of the lanes [going] either way and turning them into a transit lane. The other is to build a dedicated bus lane down the median and adopt a tidal arrangement that buses travel south in the morning and north in the evening.''

Mr Stanhope said Canberrans would be consulted before work began.

[Barry Drive]

The possibilities are closing one of the lanes [going] either way and turning them into a transit lane. The other is to build a dedicated bus lane down the median and adopt a tidal arrangement that buses travel south in the morning and north in the evening.

Which is exactly what I suggested here. Does the Chief Minister read ACT Bus forum?

[Irisbus Rider]

If Chief Minister Stanhope does in fact read the forum, I will say that this is one of the best proposals in the area of Public Transport here in the ACT for a long time!

Northbourne Av has required off road cycle lanes, as well as bus lanes for years. If this will go ahead, it will benefit all users of Northbourne Av (car, bus and cyclists), and eliminate the risk of cyclists of getting injured/killed whilst riding down this poorly thought out section of road.

[Sir Pompously]

The road itself is not really porrly thought out, much like most of Canberra (Gungahlin excluded) it is dairly well planned out. It is just the road has not been improved, and additions added to the road and road corridor have not been well thought out when implemented.

[Buzz Killington]

I definitely support the widening of footpaths to get the cyclists off Northbourne. Much safer for everyone

[Barry Drive]

As I and others have said on Riot ACT, building an off-road cycle path and removing the cycle lane from Northbourne Ave will not remove cyclists from Northbourne Ave. If anything, it will make it worse as they will then use the left lane and cause more disruption than they currently do.

Here's one such comment:

Question.
Does Stanhope really think that high speed commuter cyclists are suddenly going to meekly accept being made into second class citizens by being forced onto off road paths with loss of priority, dodging pedestrians, and all the other reasons why so many cyclists prefer roads? Of course they won't- they will stay on the road, and if the cycle lanes are removed you can blame Stanhope fair and square for all the hatred and aggression that's going to cause. The man needs to see a psychiatrist if he thinks removing the cycle lanes is going to do anything accept cause a lot of trouble

The serious commuter cyclist does not usually cause any problems, provided they ride in single file and obey the traffic lights.

[The Love Guru]

Easily solved with Bicycles not permitted signage. Force them to use the specially designed path. I dont see an issue with making them do this providing the off road lane is adequate.

[Barry Drive]

Easily solved with Bicycles not permitted signage.

That will work (not).

[Bus 400]

A letter to the editor in todays Canberra Times highlights how in morning peak ACTION Buses are held up getting to the Macarthur Avenue lights & suggests a bus lane from the visitor centre to there.

But they also highlight that overtaking lanes may be needed on this bus lane down the middle of Northbourne as when one bus stops they all would. Also passengers face the task of crossing 3 lanes of traffic to reach the bus stops.

To the last point, most bus stops are near intersections so a short stroll up to the traffic light controlled intersection shouldn't be an issue. To the 2/3 stops that aren't near an intersection, well they can walk that short stroll to the next stop. The only problem stop could be Dickson Motor Registry, as this is a busy stop for those that live near here & for those that don't live near by but work in Dickson. I suppose a set of part time traffic lights could be installed to serve those accessing the bus stop in peak times, but that does add to the cost of the construction.

[Barry Drive]

The busway would have limited stops, like Redex, so all stops would be at an intersection anyway. They might need to build crossings within the busway though.