Image credit: City of Parramatta/Salty Dingo
The City of Parramatta has endorsed a new bike plan, earmarking nearly 20km of bike paths for delivery by 2027.
Central to the plan is making bikes the obvious choice for trips under 10km and an attractive option for everyone aged eight to 88.
The council aims to boost the percentage of all people riding to work from 2% to 5%, and for bike trips ending in the Parramatta CBD to rise from 6% to 10%.
“Parramatta wants to embrace active transport across our city,” says City of Parramatta Lord Mayor Pierre Esber. “More and more of us are jumping on our bikes to get around and we want to encourage more people to get out of the car and onto a bike to get to work, school and to go shopping.”
The draft bike plan was publicly exhibited in mid-2023 and drew more than 800 pieces of community feedback in the form of written submissions, recorded comments at drop-in sessions and spots marked on an interactive map.
The existing and proposed bike routes making up the future network and spanning 337km can be viewed here.
Further to the promise of new and improved bike paths, the plan also aims to address some of the key themes to emerge during community consultation.
These include a stronger focus on safety and education through more separated infrastructure, education for users of shared paths such as encouraging them to slow down in high-risk areas, and improved connectivity and access through measures such as kerb ramps to connect to paths.
The new bike plan is a major update on the 2017 Parramatta Bike Plan, and was formulated in response to significant changes in land use and government policy, and improving bike infrastructure in the area such as the Alfred Street Bridge and Carlingford and Parramatta active transport route.
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