Hobart City Council is moving forward with plans for a new cycle lane on both sides of Collins Street, despite the state government withdrawing $170,000 in funding.
Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said the council will explore alternative funding options and potentially reallocate existing funds to cover the project’s costs.
“This is a disappointing decision by the state government, however the city will continue its focus on providing safer active transport infrastructure,” Reynolds said.
“We don’t want our city to fall behind other capital cities in providing safer transport choices for residents.”
The installation will involve the removal of 49 car parking spaces between Molle and Murray streets and a lower speed limit.
The decision to proceed with the trial comes after several councillors, including Louise Elliot, Marti Zucco, John Kelly and Louise Bloomfield, raised concerns about the uptick in usage of new cycle lanes on other CBD streets.
“There is no impartial, comprehensive baseline data for Collins Street. Yet we have approval for this concept and the Lord Mayor going to Canberra to ask for $4.2 million to make it permanent,” Elliot said.
“And even more worrying is whilst the word trial has been thrown around in relation to this, it’s a trial of the design. It’s not a trial of whether we have bike lanes or not.”
Transport Minister Eric Abetz said he “wasn’t even aware” that the trial had been publicly framed in the way Elliot suggested.
“When I spoke to [the Lord Mayor] last night, I said, look, a trial is never walked back. Especially by the proposers and if you’ve championed this, in two year’s time, you’re not going to say we made the wrong decision and pull out,” he said.
Abetz believes that a “vibrant” central business district requires a balance of cars, commuters, parking and bikes.
“It doesn’t stop bikes coming down Collins Street if we don’t have a bike path. It just means that cars and bikes can intermingle at a relatively low speed of 40km/h,” he said.
“If the city council does make it 30km/h, it makes it, if you like, even safer for the bike users without prejudicing 50 car parking spaces.”
The councillors are now proposing a ‘Ride and Walk’ facility on the outskirts of the CBD, allowing cyclists to securely store their bikes and cover the remaining distance into the city on foot.
“I, in fact, mentioned that to the Lord Mayor last night when I was speaking with her, that I’m sort of becoming more and more attracted to the idea of ride and walk,” Abetz said.
“So that the last three or four blocks have to be walked and that way you don’t choke out the cars from the city.”
Councillor Ryan Posselt, a supporter of the project, said the “extremely disappointing” to slash funding “directly places cyclists who use Collins Street to access the city by bicycle or scooter at increased risk of injury or death”.
“It is important to note that South Hobart has one of the highest active transport commuter profiles in the country,” he wrote online.
“Does Minister Abetz not value the lives and livelihoods of South Hobartians who choose a healthy and congestion busting form of transport to get to work?”
