A vital thoroughfare for bike riders in central Sydney has been restored to its former glory, with the College Street cycleway reopened following an 8-year hiatus.
The key piece of biking infrastructure was reopened on Monday as a bi-directional, 650-meter cycleway along the eastern edge of Hyde Park.
College Street has long been a busy route for the bike riders of Sydney, but was controversially ripped up by the state government in 2015, sparking significant community backlash.
Even without the separated cycleway, more than 2,000 bike riders continued pedalling along College Street each weekday morning, albeit at much greater risk to their safety.
Data collected by the City of Sydney shows that with the original cycleway in operation, a bike rider was involved in a crash once every 258 days.
These events increased four-fold with it gone, with riders on College Street then involved in a crash once every 92 days.
Credit: City of Sydney/Chris Southwood
The council voted in favour of restoring the College Street cycleway in May 2021, and with the works now complete riders can stress less and once again enjoy a safer north-south route through the Sydney CBD.
The College Street cycleway will connect with the planned Oxford Street cycleway, where construction is due to begin promptly once the WorldPride festival wraps up on 5 March 2023.
Lead image courtesy of City of Sydney/Chris Southwood
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