Feb 102022
 

Below is Bike Melbourne’s submission to the draft to be considered by City of Melbourne at their 15 Feb 2022 meeting. You can get the full document and make your comments here: https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/about-council/committees-meetings/meeting-archive/Pages/Future-Melbourne-Committee-15-February-2022.aspx

Our Submission

p33, please include Bike Melbourne in list of orgs to consult.

Moving cyclists past your worksite

sec. 15.7.4 is a big improvement on current practices. However: remove “whereever possible” replace with:
(a) where a bicycle lane is provided, and equivalent must be available at all times during works, e.g. painted lane replaces painted lane; protected lane replaces protected lane (e.g. using water filled barriers).
(b) above should be carried out at the expense of a traffic lane unless there is only one traffic lane.
(c) In the event (a) is not possible because of (b), traffic controller on duty at all times (24×7) to hold cars when bikes are present. There should be no cars present when a bicycle is using the car lane.

Noted that “block and hold” traffic controller is an option, it must be the minimum option and a last resort.
Please remove reference to “cyclists dismount” as this is discriminatory and may not be possible for all people, e.g. disabled cyclists, heavy cargo bikes etc.
4m shared roadway lane is not an adequate replacement for a bicycle lane. Delete this option except with 24×7 traffic control to block and hold motor traffic when bikes are present.

In particular, a protected bike lane is a promise which should never be broken, otherwise the primary purpose of the lane, which is to encourage less confident cyclists to ride, is destroyed and not only during the works. One scare is enough to deter a person from ever cycling in the City again. Closures are not known to the road user until they arrive and alternative routes cannot be planned therefore the works must provide an equivalent replacement.

Gantries

Please add a new requirement to always position a gantry to encompass any existing bicycle lane. Any deviation must receive explicit approval from CoM and an equivalent provided as above.

Notification and consultation

Suggest CoM publishes proposal from construction before approved, e.g. as soon as received and establishes an email notification option for the public to receive these. Very often the changes are made without any notification of interested parties and there is no opportunity to make submissions.

 Posted by at 2:57 pm

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