This area is a challenge for cyclists. The main roads like the Princes Highway and Unwins Bridge Rd are very busy and dangerous and have only a few bicycle facilities. The railway bisects the area, and side roads to and off the Highway can carry a lot of traffic.
There is a shared path on Princes Highway past Ikea, from Smith St to Bellevue St, leading to Terry St, which connects to an old route on Henry St . There is a narrow railway underpass connecting the two halves of Henry St, which crosses busy Railway Rd and goes past Sydenham Green. George St connects to Sydenham Station. Continuing on Henry you do a left/right into Rolf Lane, which comes out at Mary St, a frenetic oneway street off the Princes Highway. Crossing carefully tothe footpath you can get to the Highway and cross to a new bike path provided as part of Westconnex St Peters interchange. This leads to Campbell St, which has a new cyclepath on the north Side.
Westconnex has provided funding for Inner WestCouncil for an ”upgrade” of the Sydenham to Mary St route. A detailed design has been prepared and comments sought.
https://yoursay.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/st-peters-interchange
Council also prepared a report on Unwins Bridge Rd pedestrian and cyclist safety concerns by residents. This essentially ignores cycling improvements, citing the proposed Sydenham to St Peters route above. Unwins Bridge Rd would provide a direct route for cyclists from Tempe to Sydenham and Enmore.
Some improvements that could be made are:
An uphill bike lane past the Tempe Schools south of Lymerston St.
Selected shared footpaths to avoid congested sections or to provide access.
Lower speed limits in sections, such as near RailwayPde and schools.
A bike path from Swain St north to Campbell St/Bedwins Bridge to link to new paths there. This could be part shared path, part on road bike path, where removal of parking on the west, non-residential, side of the road could allow space. Noting also there are no side streets south of the Council depot and businesses and depots have access on Bolton St at the rear. Clearway restrictions morning and evening should also be noted, and no doubt would be hard to change.