Councillors want to roll out separated bike lanes across the CBD. Image: ACC / Wayne Psaila

The council last night asked its administration to produce a report on how it could lay bike lanes throughout the CBD that would protect cyclists from traffic, but without the large cement barriers that have polarised public opinion about the Frome Street bikeway.

South Ward councillor Priscilla Corbell told last night’s meeting that while good work had been done in recent years to make the city accessible for cyclists through the parklands into the city, the CBD itself featured minimal bike lanes and was still difficult for cyclists to navigate safely.

She used a map of the current bike network through the CBD (below) to argue that cyclists needed an interconnected bike lane network.

Plans for a network of bike lanes through the CBD features in the council’s Smart Move strategy.

Central Ward councillor Houssam Abiad said “we don’t have anything that resembles a bike network” in the city, arguing a network of separated bike lanes should be rolled out quickly and cheaply.

“We’re talking about a very small city, so I think we can achieve this very quickly,” he told the meeting.

Deputy Lord Mayor Megan Hender said she favoured “slight grade changes, perhaps rumble strips, that sort of thing – so we can come up with the sort of bikeway that can be rolled out broadly across the city, and in my view, broadly across the metropolitan area”.

The report on “the most economical separated bikeway options” will include:

Design, construction and maintenance costs.

Construction timeframe.

Possible bikeway routes, and links to existing bike path infrastructure.

Safety and traffic impacts.

Economic, social and environmental benefits.

The report will be presented to the council next month.

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