By Molly Magennis
Maribyrnong council has endorsed a Pop-Up Bicycle Lane trial.
The Pop-Up Bicycle Lanes Project was proposed by the Department of Transport and will result in 20 kilometers of new and improved pop-up bike routes installed around Footscray, Seddon and Yarraville.
Key streets where improvements are proposed include Moore Street, Hyde Street, Raleigh Street, Cross Street, Albert Street, Donald Street, Pentland Parade and Somerville Road
At last week’s council meeting, councillor Simon Crawford said the council had been calling on the state government for some time to support Maribyrnong’s transition to a more bike-friendly city.
“It’s great to see the department sort of get involved and take a lead on this project,” he said.
“It’s really good that the department has worked really closely with council and the community and allowed us to provide guidance and then really listened to that guidance.”
Cr Jorge Jorquera said considering the success of the project, a campaign to encourage bike riding would be helpful.
“It would be very useful for council, I think, to consider some publicity activity around Ride to Work Day next year and Ride to School Day. We could target around other things, but they’re the two obvious ones,” he said.
There would be 59 car parking spaces lost during the trial to accommodate safer cycling within the project.
The project will undertake a 12-18 month trial of quick-build cycling infrastructure and will be followed by an evaluation period.
At the end of the trial period the Department of Transport will provide council a report on the project’s success which will allow council to decide if the trial facilities will be kept or removed.
