The Port Adelaide/Enfield Council is currently implementing its new Walking and Cycling Plan & is seeking community feedback & ideas on 2 key aspects of The Plan:

• a proposal to greatly improve the Mersey Road Bikeway route which runs northwards between Victoria Road & the Port River. The proposal would create an ‘on road’ bike way with new infrastructure along Elder Rd and Mersey Rd, running from Birkenhead to Osborne
• the ongoing identification of new locations for additional bike parking facilities and walking & cycling refuges across the PAE council area.

Here’s what staff have to say about the Mersey Road Bikeway proposals:

“We have identified that the Mersey Road bicycle route is an important secondary route linking the employment centres within the Lefevre Peninsula. We are proposing several treatments along this route to improve cycling. Different treatments have been selected based upon the streetscape. A separate path has been provided where there is sufficient width within the verge. For sections of Mersey Road that are greater than 9m, we can re-allocate space within the existing road cross-section to provide a dedicated on-road bicycle path while still maintaining two travel lanes for traffic and parking on the western side (property side) of Mersey Road. At other constrained locations, we are providing the ‘shared road’ pavement marking to highlight this is part of a cycling route. We have been successful in receiving grant funding under the State Bicycle Fund for these improvements.”

And here’s a short summary of new bike parking & median refuge possibilities:

“We have been successful in receiving funding through the State Bicycle Fund to help deliver the cycling projects detailed below in our Next Steps [including] installation of [bike parking] hoops and consideration of bike refuges around the City of PAE. We want your help to decide where this infrastructure should be located and to review existing infrastructure that may not be meeting… needs due to poor location or condition. We are unable to install hoops on private land such as privately owned shopping centres however please tell us about these locations, and we can pass this feedback on.

Refuges allow people walking and cycling to cross main roads in two stages so they only have to deal with one direction of traffic at a time. The refuge provides room to stop in a centre island. They are particularly beneficial on busy roads where it may be difficult to find a safe gap in both directions of traffic. We are seeking your feedback on where these are needed most.”

Implementation of the new 5-year Walking & Cycling Plan takes an entirely new approach. – it will largely be based on ongoing feedback & participation from & by the community. So we’ll see the best outcomes if the community gets involved! So we strongly encourage PortBUG members to get involved & take this opportunity to comment!

It’s also worth noting that – as well as the State Bicycle Fund money mentioned – Council has allocated a considerable sum of money from its own budget for annual implementation of The Plan over its initial 5 year span! So you can be confident that Council officers will be listening to what you have to say & there’s a good chance that any suggestions you make will be implemented!

The Participation page is here!