Transcript Elevated City Cycleway: a proposal for Perth City • Perth is a city in metamorphosis. • The three major developments currently underway (Foreshore, City.

Elevated City Cycleway:
a proposal for Perth City
• Perth is a city in metamorphosis.
• The three major developments currently underway (Foreshore,
City link, and Riverside) will ensure increasing residential and
working population density for years to come.
• With increased population density comes increased pressure
on our transport infrastructure.
• While considerable effort has been spent improving rail, road
and pedestrian traffic infrastructure, relatively little effort has
gone towards encouraging bicycle use in the inner city.
• The nature of bicycle travel gives rise to a number of problems
which dissuade most people from riding in the city.
The problems
• Bicycles are small and offer relatively little protection.
• The stop-start nature of city traffic is tiring. In order
to maintain momentum, cyclists are inevitably
tempted to ignore traffic signals (e.g. during
pedestrian crossing cycles), raising safety issues.
• Riding on roads between moving and parked cars is
unsafe, even with marked lanes.
• Bicycles move at an intermediate speed between cars
and pedestrians, but with slower acceleration.
Cyclists are forced to choose between:
– Impeding car movement.
– Dodging and weaving between pedestrians.
A solution
• Grade separation is desirable. A dedicated cycleway in the
inner city which is separate from both road and pedestrian
traffic means either elevated structures or tunnels.
– Tunnels are expensive to build, interfere with future development, and
remove much of the desirability of riding a bicycle.
• The current bicycle network is excellent for cyclists as far as
the outskirts of the CBD, but once inside, the previously
mentioned problems are encountered.
• A initiative to build an elevated cycleway connecting
distributor routes would make for a landmark improvement to
the inner city of Perth.
A historical perspective
• Horace Dobbins petitioned for and
built the California cycleway during
the bicycle craze of the early 1900s.
• Although this was later dismantled to
build a freeway, this concept has
surfaced repeatedly over intervening
years as population densities have
increased (See references).
• Most objections have understandably
focused on the visual obstruction
elevated structures can cause.
Elevated cycleways can be landmarks…
but design is critical.
Carter Cycle bridge, Cambridge station
Kurilpa Cycle/Pedestrian Bridge, Brisbane
Railroad gardens, New York
Baltic Millennium Bridge, Newcastle
New cycleway bridge, Bayerstraße, Munich
• Elegant structures can be functional and attractive.
A current day example in the Netherlands
• Almere (population 193,000)
• A planned city on reclaimed land, Almere has an
entirely segregated cycleway (the “Spoorbaanpad”).
• This 12km dedicated path runs alongside the length of
the elevated railway and is used by 21,000 cyclists/day.
• The Spoorbaanpad has right of way where it intersects
with regular traffic.
The Spoorbaanpad is seen here in front of the railway
Design
• The cycleway should have:
Indicative
concept only
– Frequent entry/exit ramps.
– Places to park bikes – ie enough room to lock
bikes to the sides in addition to cycle traffic.
– Minimal supporting structure/overshadowing of
roads below.
• And connect to major suburban bike routes.
Exit
• Estimated height would vary between the
second and third stories as necessary.
• It should be vibrant to look at!
Suggested alignment
Suggested main path
alignment runs 2.7 km
from the Hay St bridge
over the Mitchell Freeway
to Queens Gardens.
A second axis could run
along Barrack St for 1 km
from the WA Museum to
the Perth Waterfront
development.
Further spurs could connect
to the Mount St pedestrian
bridge, and along Bennet St
to Wellington Square
Cycleway
Conclusion
• An elevated, cycleway would be a welcome addition to the
current network of paths in the city, increasing the safety and
amenity of all city residents.
• Not only would it take current cyclists off inner city streets, it
would reduce the “subjective risk factor” of riding in the city
(see http://hembrow.blogspot.com/2008/09/three-types-ofsafety.html) Many more people would ride to work, thereby
reducing congestion.
• With good design, such an amenity would become a worldclass tourist attraction.
References
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_Cycleway
http://hembrow.blogspot.com/search/label/directness
http://www.californiacycleways.org/project.htm
http://elevatedcyclelanes.blogspot.com/
http://www.design21sdn.com/competitions/11/entries/321
7/gallery/19114
• http://www.cyclestreets.net
• http://www.elevatedgardencity.com/