Hi Folks, Each year BUG members have several meetings with Council staff aimed at reviewing goals and priorities from the Bike Plan and figuring out how to best continue development of the PA/E Bike Network. Last month we met to finalise budget discussions for the 2019-20 budget period, learn of Council proposals and plan new infrastructure out to early 2021. You can read a summary below…

1. Progress with 2018-19 Bike Plan Projects:

The current Bike Plan projects (funded in 2018) have either completed planning or will start soon. These include:

• a pedestrian refuge on Main North Road near Marmion Street
• a crossing on Lady Ruthven Drive, North Haven, joining the end of Outer Harbor Greenway (on Flaminia St) to the Coastal Way Bike Path
• a link between Osmond Trc and Sudholz Rd at Gilles Plains (linking Blacks & Sudholz Roads adjacent to the TAFE College).

We also learned that construction of a pedestrian rail crossing at May Trc, Rosewater will start soon.

2. Proposed Bike Plan Projects for 2019-20:These projects will be submitted for Council funding shortly & – if funded – will likely be built over 2020-21.

• an off-road pathway on the Outer Harbor Greenway linking Semaphore Road and Mead Street (adjacent to Le Fevre PS)
• short pathway links on the Mersey Rd Bikeway at Furniss Ave & Mascotte Drv, Osborn
• possible sign posting of the OHG on the Port waterfront
• a new median pedestrian refuge at the junction of Carlisle Street and Causeway Road, Glanville
• bike path upgrades along Sir Ross Smith Boulevard, through Harry Wierda Reserve, Oakden
• a pedestrian & cyclist reserve on Brookvale Rd, Windsor Gdns
• enhanced bike lanes on Galway Ave, Broadview (part of the City-Levels Bikeway)
• new ramps and a pedestrian refuge across Blacks Rd, at the intersection with Grand Junction Rd, Gilles Plains
• large EarthWrap ‘etiquette’ stickers on the Coast Park and Linear Path pavements.

We also learned that:

• our proposals for new ‘sharrows’ on Pym St, Dudley Park and a new pathway on Nelson St (between Jenkins & Semaphore Rd) will need to wait on outcomes of major road and housing developments.
• the Bike Plan’s proposal for a new bikeway adjacent to Sudholz Rd (between GJRd and the Paradise Interchange) will be followed up with DPTI as a possible ‘larger-scale’ project
• our proposed ‘Regency Connector’ bikeway (along Regency Rd between Narweena Drv & South Road) is ‘on hold’ pending submissions to DPTI for its inclusion in South Road upgrades.

4. The PA/E Narrow Street Policy Project: PA/E Council is developing a ‘narrow streets’ policy. The BUG has requested specific consideration of associated cycling and active transport issues, notably opportunities for ‘contra-flow’ arrangements – that is, ‘one-way (bikes excepted)’.
5. Rosewater Rail Reserve Project:The local Rosewater community has asked that the ‘unused’ railway reserve between Grand Junction Rd and the Outer Harbour Line be developed as a bikeway. PortBUG has raised this possibility in the past as a valuable opportunity to link Ottoway and Rosewater North to the Greenway and rail services. Council supports the proposal and will write to DPTI to progress it.

Bonus News Item: Recently DPTO staff have assured us that the new Outer Harbor Greenway link between East and Chief Streets (through the Gasworks Retort House site) will be completed by September this year. Hooray! 

Sam Powrie,
Secretary, PortBUG.

The Gasworks Retort House, Outer Harbor Greenway, Bowden.