Tag: 30 K

Inner West 40 K proposal

Inner West Council and the State Government have come up with a plan to make the default speed limit on most roads 40 KM/hr . They say some 30 K zones will be considered. The State Roads and Classified Roads that are now 50 or 60 K are proposed to remain at 50 or 60, despite many not being up to standard with regard to cycling infrastructure, and a trend to changing 60 to 50 on State roads over the past ten years. Most serious injuries occur on these higher speed roads. [see Note below]

Worldwide the move is to 30 K urban default speed limit, following a UN Special Declaration in 2020 after the Stockholm World Road Safety Conference, which Australian Ministers or delegates signed. Many cities in Europe have adopted 30 as the default speed limit, including London, Paris, Brussels, Barcelona, Amsterdam. Wales has adopted 30 throughout. There are exceptions for main highways and certain other major roads with good cycling facilities, but most roads, including residential and shopping, are 30.

IWBC made a submission, criticising the proposal on a number of grounds.

Council did not make any substantial changes to the proposal and it was adopted at a recent Council meeting. We are disappointed that several key bike routes will remain 50 or 60 K, and the 30 K option is to be only considered on a limited number of roads.

Further information on the benefits of 30 K speed limits can be found on Bicycle NSW, betterstreets.org.au, and 30please.org.

U tube Video from Not Just Bikes on speed limits.
https://betterstreets.cmail20.com/t/t-l-eikhydt-jtiithmg-t/

New NSW guidelines on 30 K

https://standards.transport.nsw.gov.au/search-standard-specific/?id=TBA%20-%200004459:2022#overhead

Note added in December 2024

Some State Roads in Marrickville and Petersham with a 60 K limit have been recently made 50 K. It seems Council staff were not happy with the retention of existing 60 K limits and TfNSW have changed their minds. Good work! (but 40 would be better on Railway Terrace, which has a bike path. Sydenham Rd should be 50.

Rozelle Parklands

After opening to much fanfare in December 2023 the Parklands have been unfortunately closed much of the time since January due to the discovery of bonded asbestos in the mulch in the garden and landscape beds.

The much if briefly appreciated through links for cyclists to the Anzac Bridge and to Annandale are currently still closed.

What was obvious before the asbestos debacle was that there has been little to no work done on the connections to the Park, such as Whites Ck path, Lilyfield Rd, Gordon St, Robert St, Victoria Rd, and Johnston St. Many of these necessary Active Transport links were identified in the Westconnex EIS (Appendix N) and in the Rozelle Interchange UDLP, (Ch 11 on Active Transport), but were left to ”others” to do, presumably Council and TfNSW. After 6 years the ”others” have failed to act.

IWBC has put in a submission on these missing links and on some defects of the Rozelle Parklands cycling infrastucture as constructed.

See a photo compilation by Bike Leichhardt, identifying defects or missing connections.

We also suggest that surrounding streets be declared 30 K zones or Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, in order to promote walking and cycling to the new Parklands. This would be consistent with Councils new policy on lowering speed limits, where 30 K is now an option on selected streets. 30 K is much safer than 40 K, and is used extensively in other countries.