IT IS a source of daily frustration for hundreds of Sydney cyclists making their way to and from work.

At the northern approach to the Harbour Bridge the bike path comes to an abrupt end and pedal-pushers are forced to dismount and negotiate 55 steps by walking their bikes down a narrow ramp before continuing.

Daily frustration...cyclists negotiate the ramp on the Harbour Bridge's northern approach. Credit:Dean Sewell

"Give me one example of a Sydney road where the driver has to get out and push his or her car for 10 metres?" cyclist Chris Virtue asked yesterday. "There's a traffic jam there during peak hour every day - 20-odd cyclists lining up to go up the ramp. Absolutely ridiculous."

Sydney's cycleways are not so much an organised network as a fragmented collection of winding paths and half-finished ideas. Most were built or designed when cycling was viewed as a pleasant pastime rather than a practical form of travel and are now poorly suited to commuting.