After the City of Sydney recently scrapped the bold plans for a cycleway down the middle of Oxford Street, further delaying a safe passage for one of the busiest bike routes in the city, a new cycleway design is now open for consultation.
Following community feedback, the city have reconsidered the design and now propose a permanent, higher quality bi-directional cycleway on the northern side of Oxford and Liverpool streets.
The city website states: "The updated design will maintain loading and bus operations on Oxford Street. Transport for NSW will monitor the performance of the westbound kerbside lane and use of off-peak parking and loading spaces for 6 months after the cycleway opens, to identify and consider potential improvements. This will include evaluating bus reliability and potentially changing off-peak parking and loading hours, in consultation with the City of Sydney."
Parking and loading will be removed on Liverpool Street between Elizabeth and College streets and the bus stop on Liverpool Street will be relocated to Elizabeth Street.
There are more than 2,000 bike trips on Oxford Street each day and it unfortunately also has the most reported bike crashes of any street in the area.
The Oxford Street cycleway is one of a number of key cycleways planned for the city centre, including:
- The reinstallation of the popular College Street cycleway in early 2022
- King Street cycleway connection to the Pitt Street cycleway and bike routes to the city’s east and south
- Upgrading the Pitt Street pop-up to a permanent two-way cycleway.
Plans for the revised cyclepath will be open for feedback between October 28 and November 25, 2021, with a report scheduled to be put to the council in February, 2022.
If approved, the project will then proceed to a detailed design stage, with construction hopefully completed in 2023.
You can complete a survey on the council website, or attend one of two online information session:
- Wednesday 10 November – 11:30am to 12:30pm
- Thursday 11 November – 4:30pm to 5:30pm
Or attend a drop-in session where you can find out more about the project and get a free bike tune-up:
- Tuesday 16 November – 4:30pm to 6pm – Taylor Square north
- Wednesday 17 November – 4:30pm to 6pm – Taylor Square north
- Thursday 18 November – 7:30am to 9am – Taylor Square south
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