After a 7-year wait the Tasmanian Government has finally released its update of the 2010 strategy that guides decisions about walking and cycling.
The Walk Wheel Ride strategy is a well thought out document with achievable goals to lift cycling rates, but the government has not allocated any extra funding to build the networks we need in our urban centres.
The government will implement the strategy through its state road projects, public transport upgrades and road safety programs but it will not directly fund local governments, which manage around 80% of our road network, to build safer routes on their roads.
The strategy sets the following ambitions for lifting the number of people who ride to get around:
Six principles will guide the approach to making cycling more achievable.
- Adaptable
- Comfortable
- Attractive
- Safe
- Direct
- Connected
It also takes the novel approach of profiling characters, using their experiences to illustrate how changes suggested in the strategy would improve their active transport journeys.
Planning guidelines out
Released at the same time as the strategy were guidelines for the government and local councils to help plan active transport networks and treatments to be used to trial active transport routes.
The Collins Street trial in Hobart is an example of “tactical” treatments which can be quickly installed and tweaked to observe a design in action.
An active transport network has been planned for Hobart and Glenorchy council areas and more recently in Central Coast, but few other areas of the state have such plans.
The guidelines for councils can help them speed up the planning for active transport networks so they can get on with building them.
The release of these documents creates a near-complete suite of planning documents that governments can use to improve their delivery of cycling infrastructure; a bike parking plan is the last document to come.
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