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Look, no bollards!
This new interface between Railway Terrace and the Mike Turtur (Glenelg) Bikeway in Goodwood may look a bit over-designed, but it provides options for pedestrians and cyclists to avoid each other.
And, by narrowing the width of each of these access points, no bollards are needed.
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BISA Committee members, including Chair Katie Gilfillan, have had meetings with
- an adviser to the new Minister for Transport
- the Manager, Moving People, who now has carriage for cycling policy within DPTI
- staff of the Department for Industry and Skills about the cycling economy
- DPTI about the grade separation of the railway at Oaklands
- Engineers Australia to discuss a future seminar on bikeway design and
- with ACC staff to discuss the Super Tuesday counts.
We have provided feedback on a new study examining possible grade separation of road and rail intersections on Marion Road.
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We have been sent a one-page argument from Freestyle Cyclists’ Sundance Bilson-Thompson, promoting a case for the repeal of the mandatory helmet law. Our long-standing position has been to not take a position on the matter, although readers of the January edition of Pedal Update may recall that we have recently adopted the stance that the same rule that applies to seat belts should apply to helmets — they should be optional for people riding off-road, such as on shared use paths. (This approach appears to be working well in the Northern Territory.)
The Committee discussed our stance on mandatory helmet legislation at its July meeting. It was agreed that BISA is happy to join in a conversation to explore relaxing helmet laws in South Australian with the new State Government and Freestyle Cyclists. At this stage BISA is not saying we have a particular position, however we see many arguments for relaxing the laws and therefore believe it is worth discussing further.
If you have views on the matter you are welcome to come along to our next meeting (6.30pm, 16 August) to put those to us. Please email us if you intend to come.
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Another piece of the Coast Park puzzle to be added
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Good news for users of Coast Park — the missing bit in front of Minda, between Glenelg and Brighton, is to be filled. At the moment cyclists have to take a 1.7km detour up to King George Avenue, with no off-road facilities for children other than narrow footpaths. This is because there is no cyclist access on the 600m beach frontage of the Minda site.
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The project map shown above also suggests that there will be off-road pedestrian access from the Coast Park to Brighton High.
The plan involves a 4m wide boardwalk above the dunes. Users of Coast Park would be well aware that, for once, the artist’s idea of lots of people is quite likely to be accurate. We hope that the artist has drawn the width of the path as narrower than it will really be!
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With local government elections later this year, it’s great to see new bicycle user groups being formed. In the past couple of years the Unley and Westside BUGS have been formed and have had success in getting new cycling facilities established in their areas. The long-established PortBUG has had a lot of wins recently. Now we are seeing BUGs forming for the Marion/Holdfast Bay and Mitcham Council areas. The Port, Unley, Salisbury and Westside BUGS have active Facebook communities, and the just-established Marion/Holdfast Bay group now has a Facebook page.
We also expect new BUGs to cover the Burnside, Mount Barker and Campbelltown areas soon.
PortBUG convenor (and BISA committee member) Sam Powrie has developed a guide to establishing a successful BUG, now available at the BISA web site. There is a similar guide from WestsideBUG there too.
And speaking of Facebook groups, Active Transport Adelaide is a new Facebook group covering both walking and cycling in the City.
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Dutch-style roundabouts come to Australia
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The Sussex Terrace/ Grange Road roundabout in Hawthorn had (for a few years at least) the distinction of having more cyclists hit by cars than anywhere else in the State. A couple of years ago some minor changes were made to improve things.
Mitcham Councillor Karen Hockley has posted on our Facebook page (19 July) that the Australian Government has just approved $145,000 to help complete a more thorough safety improvement.
Hopefully it will follow the example of Beulah Road Norwood, which – to our knowledge at least – was the first time in Australia that a tangential roundabout was replaced with the safer radial roundabouts used in continental Europe.
We are seeing examples in Victoria going beyond this. As we noted last month, Dutch-style roundabouts are being installed at two intersections on Moray Street, an alternative to St Kilda Road. (Click on the image below to see more.)
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Here in Adelaide we are often told that we don’t have the space for a Dutch-style intersections. We argue that we do, for example at the Frome Street/ Wakefield Street junction in the City.
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When will the Amy Gillett Bikeway be finished?
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B-Double trucks are now allowed to travel between Murray Bridge and Lobethal. The route includes the road between Mount Pleasant and Mount Torrens, which is paralleled by an old rail route that is meant to form part of the Amy Gillett Bikeway.
The Bikeway was always supposed to be built in stages, and the first three of these, covering from east of Balhannah to Mount Torrens, were completed by 2013. But then work stopped. And has remained stopped. From Mount Torrens cyclists have to share the 110km/h road with cars and trucks.
The map below shows the completed section — and the section that hasn't been done.
The many markers of fatalities and serious injuries on the Torrens Valley Road between Mount Pleasant and Birdwood in particular are testament to the dangers of this winding road. Now cyclists will have to share it with B-Double trucks as well.
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From our Facebook page
Here are a few of our posts from the last month. Click on the photos to link to item.
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Pedal Update is a newsletter of the Bicycle Institute of South Australia Inc., published monthly. The Bicycle Institute is incorporated in South Australia. Material published in Pedal Update is copyright unless otherwise stated. Articles and graphics may be copied and republished by non-profit organisations, provided the author and Pedal Update are given credit. When by lines are used, opinions published in Pedal Update are not necessarily those of the Bicycle Institute.
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