Four Photos
Is it getting easier to ride a bike in Australia?
Four Photos tracks the progress of important bike routes in our cities.
#FourPhotos
Victoria
BALLARAT
Ballarat is a city experiencing significant population growth. It has a golden opportunity to become a livable city where people have more choices about how they move around.
Sturt Street
Why: Sturt Street is the heart of Ballarat and the plan is to include Ballarat’s first on-street separated bike lane on this wide street. However, the project is meeting resistance from the loud minority. It’s vital it proceeds.
What: a fully separated bike lane.
Photo taken March 2020.
Lydiard Street outside Ballarat station
Why: a significant number of bikes already park at the station but Lydiard Street is horrible for bikes. Lydiard Street also goes south to Federation University.
What: a separated bike lane and priority entry for bike riders.
Photos taken March 2020.
Lydiard Street near Ballarat station
The well used Parkiteer cage at Ballarat station.
The Yarrowee Trail crossing over Grant Street, heading towards Anderson Strest east.
Grant Street and Yarrowee River Trail intersection
Why: this is one of those trails that just screeches to a stop when it gets close to the city. It’s an important link to Federation University and the shopping precinct.
What: a signalized bike priority intersection and a bike lane up Grant Street.
Photo taken March 2020.
A bike lane on the road around Lake Wendouree with no real protection from cars.
Lake Wendouree loop
Why: Lake Wendouree is a lovely place to go for a pedal, but currently there’s a barely painted lane next to parked cars.
What: a lane on the inside of the parked cars with protection.
Photo taken March 2020.
Four Photos
The cities
We've picked spots in Adelaide where the current bike infrastructure is not up to scratch, or bike lanes could be developed to connect missing links.
We've picked four spots in Perth that are popular and existing bike routes but aren't quite up to scratch. With a bit of extra love they can become gold-class riding routes.
More people want to ride in Bendigo, but the bike network needs to be improved with better connections and bike lanes. We've chosen four places and recommended improvements.
Darwin has some bike friendly laws, but there are some areas that desperately need upgrading to help more people get riding.
For years, Sydney had the reputation as the toughest city in Australia to ride a bike. But many hard won, giant strides have been made recently.
Hobart can become one of Australia's great bike cities, but there are some dead ends in the network and not one protected bike lane.
Launceston could be an easy town to ride around, but there are missing links and poor quality trails and not one protected on-road bike lane.
Melbourne is known as one of Australia's most bike friendly cities, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.
Brisbane is becoming a bike friendly city – in 2019 it has a successful share bike program, a mayor who wants to relax mandatory helmet laws and allows footpath riding. However, there are still many gains to be made, including improvements to four important bike routes.
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