Waverley Council gear up for cycleway

Waverley Council will join the City of Sydney in creating a cycling network for Sydney as construction on Bondi Junction bike paths is set to commence later this year.

The cycleway is part of council’s Complete Streets project, and focuses on Spring Street, Denison Street and Oxford Street in Bondi Junction to “ help increase the number of trips made by bicycle by improving infrastructure,” according to council documents.

Spackman Mossop and Michaels, an office for landscape architecture and urban design, developed the designs for the project and were selected by council via an open tender.

A Waverley Council spokesperson said the request for tender was to “provide design services for this Bondi Junction Cycleway/ Streetscape project and also to create a panel of preferred design consultants for delivery of future Bondi Junction Complete Streets projects.”

The preliminary designs were on public exhibition during October and November last year, opening the designs up to public comment. The Bondi Junction community expressed several concerns over the cycleway and its implementation. The impact of the cycleway on traffic along Spring Street was their primary concern as the area already experiences traffic problems and congestion.

But the community were not alone in holding concerns for the cycleway; Liberal Councillor Andrew Cusack opposed the construction of cycleway in Bondi Junction, and restated this position at last week’s council meeting.

The council spokesperson said traffic concerns arising from the construction of the cycleway had been worked through with members of the Waverley Traffic Committee including the Roads and Maritime Services, Sydney Buses and NSW Police.

“The impacts of the cycleway on the traffic in Bondi Junction have been modelled and the impacts mitigated in consultation with the Roads and Maritime Services,” the spokesperson said.

“The treatment of each intersection is carefully considered and the optimum treatment for pedestrians, cyclists and cars adopted.”

In November 2013, Waverley council adopted the Waverley Bike Plan that identified a bicycle route form Bondi Beach to Bondi Junction as a top priority and then a continuation to Sydney’s CBD, according to the spokesperson.

Construction is expected to begin works for the cycleway in September or October this year, with completion anticipated by March 2016.

“As with any construction project, there will be an impact on residents and businesses along the route, however we will work closely with relevant businesses to stage the works and minimise the impact,” the spokesperson said.