The Celebration:
It is not often our community has a chance to celebrate something as wonderful as the completion of the Outer Harbor Greenway!
On Sunday, October 13th PortBUG and a number of partner organizations & many in Adelaide’s community celebrated this completion at BikeFest 2019.
You can find more details on the BikeFest Poster here.
Key events included:
- a Community Celebration at Plant 4, Bowden
- an exploration ride along the Greenway
- a ‘Cargo Bike Show & Shine’ with cargo bike & other displays & test riding.
the Adelaide Premiere of ‘MOTHERLOAD’ in Woodville Town Hall), an exhilarating feature-length documentary exploring the world-wide cargo-bike movement that could maybe save Our Planet!
The film screening along with popcorn and refreshments are ALL FREE courtesy of the City of Charles Sturt! Everyone – old & young, cycling & non-cycling, whatever your abilities and no matter where you live in Adelaide – is invited. Come to the morning’s activities, to the afternoon at Woodville Town Hall, or come to both!
The Greenway:
The 20km Outer Harbor Greenway is the most recent addition to Adelaide’s Greenway Network. Its completion provides bicycle users (as well as walkers, mobility device users, skaters etc) a continuous, secure and attractive Active Transport route between the North-Western sector of the City and the Adelaide Parklands and CBD. Considerable thought, design and investment has gone into this route. Cycle commuters can avoiding riding on main-roads and in traffic. It will benefit all those who simply want to travel safely & securely between adjacent or nearby suburbs without relying on motor transport.
The new Greenway will provide important broader outcomes for the community, offering:
- independent & secure bicycle use for children as well as older & less able members of the community
- safe & affordable transport to schools, shops and services for residents without motor vehicle or public transport access
- a real opportunity for commuters to reduce transport-related greenhouse gas emissions
- many recreational, economic & community-building opportunities yet to be explored!
A Community Project.
Construction of the Outer Harbor Greenway has been a community driven project from the beginning – a great story of government & community collaboration & determination to forge an active transport future.
Why did it take 14 years? First surveyed by Port & WestsideBUGs in 2005, it was one of the first of Adelaide’s Greenways to be proposed.
However many physical, financial and planning challenges had to be overcome including:
- several main road crossings (each requiring Bicycle & Pedestrian Activated lights)
- construction of new bridges & underpasses
- integration into major housing and rail developments
- resolution of a number of heritage issues and…
- the maintenance of commitment over many years!
Major features include several kilometres of new off-road bikeway & shared-use path, push-button crossings at every main road, a major bicycle overpass at South Road, new bridges at Chief & Rosetta Streets & in the Adelaide Parklands, a magnificent new bicycle underpass at Park Terrace & integration of the bikeway into new rail station precincts at Bowden & St Clair. All deserving celebration!
The Screening:
The Adelaide Premiere of the crowd-sourced documentary…
MOTHERLOAD – Cargo Bikes Saving the World…
From the press kit: “MOTHERLOAD is a crowdsourced documentary exploring our cultural shift toward isolation and disconnection… and whether the cargo bike could be an antidote. As a new mum of twins, filmmaker Liz Canning is lonely, stressed about the planet’s uncertain future, and missing what made her feel connected, free and alive: her bicycle.”
“Then, she discovers the cargo bicycle. And a growing global community that shares her profound excitement about this experience. Clearly the choice to live by bike, instead of by car, had powerful positive repercussions…”
“MOTHERLOAD is the authentic voice of a movement in progress, featuring media crowdsourced from over 100 Co-Directors. As she joins this global movement to replace cars with purpose-built bikes, Liz learns about the bicycle’s history and potential future as the ultimate “social revolutionizer”…
“Her experiences as a cyclist, a mother, and in the cargo bike world, teach Liz that sustainability is not necessarily about compromise, and there are few things more empowering, in an age of consumption, than the ability to create everything from what seems to be nothing.” Trailers here & here.
PortBUG: The Port Adelaide Bicycle User Group. 