Separated bike lanes are kept apart from traffic by a physical barrier. Most in the City of Melbourne will be concrete barriers, but there will be a small number of mountable kerbs.
The bike lanes have been criticised by some traders and delivery drivers who say they increase congestion and make it hard to park.
The council also has to switch to using durable kerb materials for the bike lanes rather than the adjustable cycling infrastructure used during the pandemic, after the state government withdrew its support for the adjustable infrastructure.
“All of our work going forward will be permanent and … whilst we’re doing that work, we’re actually improving the streetscapes around to add more greening, to really set them up for the future,” Capp said. “What’s important is that this report, again, is stating our commitment to the entire network.”
Nik Dow, of cycling advocacy group Bike Melbourne, said switching materials would slow bike lane construction further.
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“We are really back to the speed of the rollout pre-pandemic, which will take another four or five years at least,” he said. “The council is a lame-duck council and it will go into caretaker mode very soon.”
Dow said the council was doing the best it could, and it was the state government that was slowing down bike lane installation.
Research by Monash University found the crash rate was down 46 per cent and bike traffic up 22 per cent in the CBD’s new protected bike lanes.
Monash…
