Active travel will only work if we feel safe on our streets, particularly when it is dark and we are alone. It is important, for many reasons, that we create cities where we feel comfortable. Active travel certainly depends on it.
Continue reading “Coding safety into urban design”Tag Archives: Austroads
Gradients in Molonglo 3
Gradients are hard to guess. We do not have an eye for it. Riding a bike, we notice when it gets too steep, however, it is hard to say how steep that is. That is what the gradient measures.
Continue reading “Gradients in Molonglo 3”Cycling safety: measure what is important
The old adage that we should measure what is important is the case for motor traffic but not cycling. Cycling is not on the radar of ACT Government investment.
Continue reading “Cycling safety: measure what is important”John Gorton Drive Bridge 2021 update
The planning for the John Gorton Drive Bridge has come out of the shadows – The funding promised at the ACT Election has been announced and the development application documents have been released. The construction costs will be about $177 million (June 2020 estimate).
Continue reading “John Gorton Drive Bridge 2021 update”Aranda CBR Cycle Route C5: falling short of expectations
The ongoing saga of Aranda bike path and the lastest email from Tara Cheyne on the topic. Maintenance is sorely needed but despite the newest promises nothing has been done. ACT Labor has never got on top of this issue in their 19 years in government.
Aranda update 13 February 2021
The lower section of the Aranda bike path (C5) has been resurfaced following the 2020 ACT Election but is already cracking due to tree roots. The root cause of the cracking previously was also the trees. This problem is well understood as asphalt reshapes itself to the underlying ground like a glacier. Asphalt is more like plasticine than concrete. The ACT Active Travel Stand Drawings and Austroads recommendations for bike paths provide recommendations for bike path construction to avoid such issues. For roads the asphalt is laid on a thick compacted road base (for John Gorton Drive it has about a 30 cm thickness). The construction of a bike path is similar with a thick “road base” and a relative thin layer of asphalt over that. The “road base” is important as it provides the stability and load bearing that asphalt lacks.
Continue reading “Aranda CBR Cycle Route C5: falling short of expectations”How Canberrans use their bike
The National Cycling Participation Survey tells us how Canberrans use their bike and what they think about cycling.
Continue reading “How Canberrans use their bike”Cycling in the ACT
The National Cycling Participation Survey (NCPS) is unusual for Australia. It is a standardised survey that has been repeated every two years since 2011. Repeating the survey regularly is the only way to find trends. The survey provides data on cycling participation across Australia and estimates of participation in the ACT too.
Continue reading “Cycling in the ACT”Why speed kills cyclists
Cyclists face much greater risks riding on roads than on separated bike paths. Collisions with a motor vehicle may be fatal. What makes a motor vehicle so deadly? When the bike is bent from the impact, we can imagine the injuries of the cyclist.
Continue reading “Why speed kills cyclists”Coppins Crossing is missing bike lanes and more
Coppins Crossing Road is an example of a popular Canberra road without bike lanes. As today is our unofficial bike lane day, it is worth a closer look. On-road cycle lanes in the ACT are also discussed here.
The Coppins Crossing is a river level crossing on the Molonglo River built to rural road standards and only suitable for low volumes of traffic. As a north-south corridor and part of the Molonglo development, the traffic volumes along Coppins Crossing Road are high.
It will be replaced with a bridge in 2024.
The most recent update on the John Gorton Drive Bridge is found here from 12 February 2021.
Continue reading “Coppins Crossing is missing bike lanes and more”Tactical urbanism: an agile approach to better cities
We all want better cities but it seems to take decades for any change. Tactical urbanism is an urban planning approach for delivering projects when needed. This webinar from Austroads tells us why we need it in the ACT.
Continue reading “Tactical urbanism: an agile approach to better cities”