Lilyfield Road corridor.
A proposal by Transport for NSW to Innerwest Council for a separated bi- directional cycleway on Lilyfield Rd from Victoria Road to Hawthorne Canal, as part of a Regional Bike Route to Parramatta, led to consultants GHD Woodhead being appointed in December 2015 to draw up concept plans. After two community consultations in 2016 and some revisions a final concept plan went to the Innerwest Council Traffic Committee in early 2017. Detailed design then commenced. A public meeting in 2017 led to the withdrawal of the project, but later a new Consultant was appointed and a new design commenced. In 2021 we are still waiting on its release, although construction is due to start in 2022 in the budget papers. See link to Updates below.
There are a number of aspects to this. The existing treatment, developed by the Council in response to the increasing numbers of commuting cyclists; the particulars of the new design; the alternative routes (on road and off road, including through the parallel rail corridor); the narrow footbridge at Victoria Road (not included in the project so far); the effect on parking on Lilyfield Road; connections to Lilyfield Road; will the new cycleway achieve the stated aim to attract more cyclists from the (large) group who say they “would cycle more but it’s too dangerous”, and which catchment area is likely to use this new cycleway most.
Actions:
submission to the consultant
Letter to TfNSW on the railway corridor options.
CWCL Original City West Cycleway plan by Bike Sydney.
Attendance at community information sessions at Leichhardt Town Hall.
Pyrmont Bridge Road
Longstanding campaign to improve conditions for cyclists on this direct route to the City from Leichhardt and Petersham.
Meetings have been held and promises made but little action so far. Plans to shift the Fishmarket and the Urban Growth redevelopment for the Bays Precinct are all possible catalysts for a good bicycle connection on Pyrmont Bridge Rd.
A major resheeting of the road in 2015 should have been the opportunity to mark bike lanes or improve intersections for cyclists, even after a detailed plan was drawn up with support from City of Sydney Council and an agreement was, we thought, made at a meeting with RMS and bike groups.
Another attempt at agreeing on improvements was made at a meeting on 25 February, 2017, between IWBC, CoS and RMS/TfNSW. This also failed.
in 2020 a Pop-up bike lane was installed between Lyons Rd and Taylor St, by TfNSW, in response to COVID. In November 2021 (time of writing) it is still there and may be retained. It needs extension and work at intersections.
See a photo collection on Google of cycling on Pyrmont Bridge Road.
M4-M5 Extension EIS
The M4-M5 extension is the proposed tunnel complex under the Inner West to connect the M4 at Haberfield to the M5 at St Peters. There will be exit and entry portals in the Rozelle railyard, to Anzac Bridge and Iron Cove, and also an interchange at St Peters. A tunnel will extend under Lilyfield between Iron Cove and the railyard. There will be a number of surface changes to roads and bridges in the Inner West, particularly around the Lilyfield and Rozelle areas, which will affect cyclists, and there is potential for some very useful bicycle infrastructure to be introduced. New bicycle connections along and across the railyards will be built. Buruwan Park, at The Crescent, and its useful connection from Railway Pde may be lost.
The footbridge over Victoria Rd will be removed, as will the nearby “Beattie” footbridge over The Crescent, to allow for more traffic lanes onto the Anzac Bridge.
The EIS has just been released. Relevant sections are chapters 5, the Project Description; chapter 8, on Construction effects on Transport; and Appendix N (parts 1 to 4) on Active Transport.
Comments can be made online or in submissions and close on October 16.
Callan Park
The Callan Park Masterplan was developed by the former Leichhardt Council in 2011-13 in an effort to get the State Government to hand the Park over to Council. Successive State Govts have sat on the Masterplan and very little has happened in park management. Control of the large site has passed from Health to the Office of the Environment and Heritage, under Minister Gabrielle Upton, formerly head of Planning.
She has ordered a new plan for the Park and Tyrell, a planning consultancy, has been taking the pulse of the locals with a couple of weekend stalls on the Bay Run, where some sketchy plans were displayed. According to Tyrell OEH wants more parkland and fewer buildings and presumably fewer health, charity or NGO uses than the Council Masterplan was aiming for.
Bike Leichhardt made a submission to the Masterplan back in 2011, and IWBC has just made a submission, to OEH this time. We were granted a meeting with a Ministerial adviser and went through our vision of how the Park could be made a bicycle friendly asset to the community. This includes a long standing wish for a bike path along the Park frontage, as an important link in a bike route between Leichhardt and Rozelle along Balmain Rd. We also asked for a children’s bicycle circuit on the relatively flat land bordering Balmain Rd. Submission to OEH is here.