A grand plan to reimagine Sydney's iconic Oxford Street as a people-friendly thoroughfare for bikes and pedestrians has been put to the community for feedback, again.
Oxford Street is an important transport link between Bondi Junction and the Sydney CBD and it has one of the busiest bike routes, despite a lack of dedicated bike infrastructure.
It has the highest number of reported bike crashes of any street in the area.
The proposed Oxford Street East cycleway would connect with the Oxford Street West cycleway closer to the city centre, providing riders with much-needed protection along the popular route.
The Oxford Street East cycleway can be seen as the dotted blue line toward the bottom right
Construction is due to start imminently on the Oxford Street West cycleway, but the Oxford Street East cycleway is less advanced.
The NSW Government released high-level strategic designs for the cycleway earlier this year, depicting a bi-drectional bike lane along the southern side of Oxford Street between Taylor Square and Paddington Gates. Traffic lanes would be reduced from four to two, while two bus lanes would be retained.
The project continues to face opposition from local businesses, prompting the new state government to undertake another round of community consultation.
This has included door-knocking businesses in the area and an online survey, which will remain open until 7 August. If you live locally, ride through the area or would like to see a safer riding environment along Oxford Street, you're encouraged to share your thoughts here.
Local businesses have proposed permanently lowering speed limits on Oxford Street from 50km/h to 40km/h as an alternative to the dedicated cycleway, or potentially even 30km/h.
While traffic calming measures and lower speed limits can certainly make some streets more amenable to riding and walking, local advocacy group BIKEast believes this falls short of what is required of the Oxford Street revitalisation project.
"The volume of traffic is too high and the kinds of vehicles on it would squash you like a gnat," says BIKEast advocacy coordinator Andrew Moss. "Trucks use it, articulated buses use it. Would you allow an eight-year-old child to ride down the middle of Oxford Street? Absolutely not, and that's the real test."
A Bicycle NSW petition to ensure the cycleway goes ahead has attracted more than 1,100 signatures.
This latest round of community feedback will inform a new concept design for Oxford Street East, which will be revealed later in the year.
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