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St Kilda Road: Wrong lane, go back

Alarm bells are ringing following the release of draft plans for the new Domain Station that show the wrong bike lane infrastructure through the precinct.

St Kilda Road was due to be upgraded soon with new, safe and streamlined bike infrastructure along the road’s centre section rather than in the service lanes.

But the draft plans show an earlier—now abandoned—concept of separated kerbside bike lanes adjacent to the footpath.

This plan was dropped earlier in the year as unsafe because of the high number of driveways that cut across the path of bike riders.

The heightened risk of collisions that resulted from this initial plan defeated the entire purpose of building the lanes on what was a crash-prone street.

Now, bizarrely, the draft station plans show bike lanes that likely will never be built, or if they are, won't connect to the new centre corridor bike lane.

How could a screw-up like this happen?

With the Andrews Government spending an  eternity on the St Kilda Road plans, Melbourne Metro, facing a looming deadline, was forced to fall back on the earlier, rejected concept.

But there is some good news. Melbourne Metro have said their designs can accommodate the centre lane option if it is adopted by the government.

There's now just a three-week window to get this problem sorted. The plans are out for public comment until Friday, 15 December.

If Melbourne Metro can get approval to use the centrally located bikes lanes before it finalises its plans, and has it signed off by the Minister for Planning, then there will be no stopping the early construction of the proposed central bike lanes from Southbank through to St Kilda Junction.

And millions of dollars of taxpayers money could be saved in the process by preventing the lanes being built twice.

Alternatively, riders could be stuck on the current, poor standard infrastructure for the next five years, with all the crash risk that entails.

Take action – give your feedbacl before Friday 15 December

Make it clear in your feedback that the only acceptable option is the centrally located bike lanes through the precinct so that they can be linked to the future project for the whole of St Kilda Road.

The Draft Precinct Plan is here - go to page 22, section 4.3.4.3 Bicycle access