Nearly $7 million announced to improve cycling in Brisbane

The cycling revolution underway in the River City has shifted up a gear, with the announcement of a multi-million dollar infrastructure facelift.

Speaking this evening at the Brisbane Bicycle Film Festival this evening, Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey announced a tender to develop a major cycling maintenance and rehabilitation program has been awarded to HDR, with consultation now underway.

“This is awesome news for Brisbane’s ever growing cycling community,” Mr Bailey said.

“Once the program is developed, we have allocated $6.91 million to carry out works between 2017-18 and 2020-21 ensuring a safer, more comfortable ride for everyday users.

“Priority maintenance works have already been completed on sections of the Veloway around Woolloongabba, including resurfacing the ramp to Lower River Terrace.

“A further $1.4 million of improvements are also planned this year elsewhere on the Veloway and on the Centenary Cycleway.

“This includes removing obstructions, resurfacing and widening paths and upgrading safety fencing.”

Mr Bailey said rehabilitation of the bikeways supported the Queensland Cycling Action Plan 2017-2019, which was heavily influenced by community feedback.

“When developing the Queensland Cycling Strategy, we listened to Queenslanders about what they wanted for their cycling future,” he said.

“We heard calls for not only developing new infrastructure, but also making sure our existing facilities are kept to a high standard.

"We are now developing a short-term program for rehabilitating our cycleways as well as guidelines for long-term maintenance.

“We will start by looking into what works are needed on the Veloway (V1) Cycleway, Centenary Cycleway, the Deagon Deviation and Ipswich Motorway shared paths.

“We  are talking with local councils, peak cycling bodies, bicycle user groups and cyclists to gain a better understanding of common maintenance issues and complaints.

“Once developed, the maintenance guidelines will be applied to state-controlled off-road cycleways across Queensland.”

Mr Bailey said the program was part of the Palaszczuk Government’s vision for more cycling, more often.

“We know each weekday more than 7000 people use our cycleways to get to work in the Brisbane CBD and surrounds,” he said.

“As well as being a healthy way to get to work, this means fewer cars on the road and less congestion on our busy public transport system.

“Our cycleways are also heavily used for recreation with many more thousand Queenslanders getting out and about on their bikes on weekends.

“This government invests millions of dollars delivering world class facilities like the recently opened $24 million Stage D of the V1 linking Lewisham Street in Greenslopes-Tarragindi to O’Keefe Street, Buranda.

“Other parts of the V1 were built as early as the mid-90s and, although they are maintained regularly, they are in need of more significant repair to ensure this state-of-the-art facility can continue to be enjoyed safely by generations to come.”

For more information on the Queensland Cycling Strategy 2017-2027 and on cycling in Queensland, visit www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Travel-and-transport/cycling.

ENDS

Media contact: Dominic Geiger, 0447355565