The problem
There is no safe and easy connection between the bike lanes on Sandy Bay Road and the Hobart waterfront.
- The Hobart City Council has created on-road painted bike lanes on Sandy Bay Road. However, the lanes end at Marieville Esplanade, leaving riders to battle heavy traffic along Sandy Bay Rd or take the hillier, winding, quiet roads route through Battery Point if they are heading to the waterfront area.
- The plan to connect Sandy Bay Road bike lanes to the Hobart waterfront, around the Battery Point foreshore has proven difficult, with local residents scuttling plans by the City of Hobart in 2015.
- This means there are no easy routes for the increasing number of students who travel between the University of Tasmania’s Sandy Bay campus and the new developments in the city centre other than take to the footpath, which is not permitted through the Sandy Bay shopping centre.
This demand for a safe place to ride is only set to increase with the completion of more university developments over coming years.
Above: End of the Sandy Bay Road bike lanes
The solution
A shared pathway around the shoreline from the Hobart waterfront to Marieville Esplanade.
As a shared pathway along the foreshore would be an iconic feature of Hobart, attracting visitors and locals to the area.
It would also provide a direct link to the Hobart waterfront for walkers and bike riders, bypassing the hillier suburban streets.
While The Resource Management and Planning Appeals Tribunal rejected the Hobart City Council’s plan for the walkway in 2015, the local council has plans to revive the project.
In 2023 a local resident group Friends of Battery Point Walkway released its own plans for a path and has lobbied the council to adopt its route and lightweight building materials.
CAMPAIGN STATUS:
- 21 November 2023 — Friends of Battery Point Walkway release plans for a walkway taking a different route to the failed council proposal.
- 17 July 2023 — Hobart Council debates the future of the walkway and calls for a report on the next steps.
- 15 March 2022 — Councillor Mike Dutta proposes the Hobart Council receive a report which outlines the history of the walkway and potential steps forward for councillors to decide whether to keep pursuing the walkway.
- 2019 — The Hobart City Deal has put $500,000 into progressing a “walkway” in the River Derwent to bypass hilly Battery Point although this has always been described as a shared path so riders can use it.
- 29 May 2019 — A Battery Point Slipyards master plan has been released for public comment, which makes no mention of the foreshore walkway, Bicycle Network successfully amended it to make mention of the walkway.
- 27 February 2018 — Hobart City Council committee has agreed to remove construction funding for the Battery Point pathway from its 10 year capital works budget. Read more >
- 30 October 2017 —Hobart City Council has announced plans to set aside $6.8 million from the council’s capital works program for the Battery Point Walkway project. The funding is a great sign of the councils commitment to see the project completed. It’s also more than double the $3 million previously set aside for the project. Read more >
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