The Heysen Street Link bike path will be extended to Woden Town Centre. Good news, after years of delays. The scope of projects often shrinks after grand announcements, but Heysen Street Link has grown to something more. A happy end.
Heysen Street Link
Heysen Street shortens the ride from the new suburbs in Molonglo Valley / Weston Creek and Woden Valley. The road was of a “rural road standard” and a death trap for cyclists.
Heysen Street Link benefited from the 2020 Fast Track program. Heysen Street Link was slow to move forward but now planned all the way to Woden.
Heysen Street update 22 July 2021: stage 1 and 2 of the project have been completed. The remaining stage along Devonport Street has not begun.
Construction in 3 stages
The funding comes from different pots but should produce a route from Weston to Woden Town Centre.
Heysen Street Link, ACT Government, 12/10/2020
Stage One – status 26 February 2021 completed
- Type: off-road shared path
- Where: from the intersection of Devonport Street and Derwent Street, through the Oakey Hill Nature Reserve, along Heysen Street, ending at its intersection with Hilder Street.
- Construction: August 2020 to late 2020
- Funding: ACT Government $1.2 million
Stage Two – status 26 February 2021 completed
- Type: off-road shared path
- Where: from the underpass near the Lyons shops, along Launceston Street to Burnie Street.
- Construction: late 2020 to early 2021
- Funding: ACT Government’s Fast Track Program.
Stage Three – status 22 July 2021 NOT yet started
- Type: on-road protected cycle path
- Where: along Devonport Street between Derwent Street and the Lyons shops.
- Construction: early 2021 to mid 2021
- Funding: Federal Government’s Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program.
Missing links
Missing links describe gaps in the cycling network and those gaps can be quite short. Adding another 100 m of path, connecting two other bike paths, makes a network. Without this short link, a cyclist may need to ride a much greater distance.
Filling the gap and building a cycling path to form a network does not need to be expensive but it adds a lot of value to the stakeholder. The benefit of fixing the missing link far exceeds the construction costs as it makes the whole path network more attractive to cyclists. More people exercising = more people engaging in healthy habits!
ACT Labor promised to build several missing links at the 2016 ACT Election. There are many missing links in the ACT cycling network.
