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Let Launceston Council know bikes are key

Launceston’s Tomorrow Together community consultation is now focusing on transport, asking people to fill out an online survey and contribute to their online map.

The map allows you to provide feedback on area in Launceston where bike facilities are needed or could be improved.

Launceston has the bones of some good cycling corridors, but some still need to be built or improved to ensure they are usable year-round by a wider variety of bikes and riders.

The Mobile and Accessible City online survey takes a while to fill out but does look closely at bicycle transport and what’s needed to improve it in Launceston.

As well as asking you about your travel habits and preferences, it asks what the council needs to do to make cycling easier in Launceston.

Some of the improvements needed to get more people riding in Launceston include:

  • Develop separated cycling corridors into the city centre from the south, south-west and north-west.
  • Widen, seal, light and sign current cycling corridors from Rocherlea and Newnham to the city.
  • Provide a public end-of-trip facility in the city that has secure undercover bike parking, showers and lockers.
  • Planning – require new subdivisions to provide cycleways and link these to existing and planned cycleways, and require new apartment and office buildings to provide adequate bike parking for residents and users at ground level.
  • Public e-bike charging and parking.
  • Traffic light priority that allows bicycle riders on cycling corridors to get into the intersection before drivers and be seen.
  • 30 km/h speeds on streets with high numbers of people walking and ridng and on identified walking and riding routes to schools.

Safety also features in the survey, with questions about preferred speed limits. Research has shown that on streets where people walk and ride, that 30 km/h is the safest speed to prevent serious injuries and deaths.

There is also a section on street design which talks about reallocating space to people walking and riding, noting that only 10-20% of the roadway is for active transport and event then it’s shared with light poles and other infrastructure.

You can note your preferences for separated cycleways, shared paths, low-speed shared streets, wider footpaths and dedicated bus lanes.

The Tomorrow Together feedback will be considered in a transport vision for greater Launceston which is due to be released early in 2020.