Cycling in Sydney Australia
Two's a crowd on bridge -Yawn, more scrubby stuff
SHARED paths across the Spit Bridge are dangerously narrow, according to pedestrians who say they fear "death or serious injury" every time they see a bike coming the other way.
Chalk outlines on the western side designate the footpath along the bridge as a "shared zone" - open to pedestrians and cyclists - but commuters believe the footpath is too narrow to accommodate both.
Photographs sent to the Manly Daily show pedestrians are being forced to narrowly squeeze past riders.
Pedestrian Council CEO Harold Scruby said cyclists needed to either dismount or stay on the roads.
"It's a death or serious injury waiting to happen - there's a couple of points on the footpath where there's only just enough room for a cyclist to pass," he said.
"Pedestrians are required to dodge speeding cyclists at this incredibly dangerous location ... (while) buses pass with their mirrors literally centimetres away.
"It's not uncommon to see cyclists travelling across the bridge at speeds exceeding 30km/h."
He said the bridge's walkway narrowed to less than 1.2m at at least two points - well under Austroads' guidelines, which call for a minimum width of 3m for shared areas.
It is understood northern beaches police have raised concerns about cyclists refusing to dismount, with Roads and Maritime Services requesting the bridge be sign-posted. Spit Bridge falls under the jurisdiction of RMS and a spokeswoman said an investigation "found no issues with the site."
http://manly-daily.whereilive.com.au/news/story/twos-a-crowd-on-bri...
Apologies if this is too local but no way am I going to cut the traffic on the road on the bridge heading north. From what I see most peds and bikes get on fine and understand that it is tight for both for about 100 metres.
30 km/h? A joke eh Harold, not possible.
BTW peds can use both east and west paths on the bridge as both north and south ends have under bridge access to both paths.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Knight on -
My Marin has ginormously wide handlebars despite me taking off a couple of inches when I got the bike. I have run into problems not with peds, but with other wide bikes coming the other way. There are the two "alcoves" which do allow wide loads to pass if you stop in there and wait for the oncoming rider to pass. It just takes a little common sense.
Maybe the alcoves could be signposted as "Passing Zones" to give those who feel vulnerable a safety island to pop into when they see a rider, jogger or mean looking ped coming towards them?
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Permalink Reply by John Knight on
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Oops, there is only one alcove!
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Permalink Reply by Phillip J on -
I agree with Colin, don't get drawn into a peds vs cyclist war.
Liverpool Bridge has ped/cyclist paths on both sides which are probably only 1.4M to 1.5M wide for the whole lenght of the bridge.
When riding along this path I have to slow down and virtually stop for peds coming in the other direction, I usually greet the ped, smile and continue on. The walker almost always does the same, both realise that they have been short changed on the facillities.
We need to demand better riding and pedestrian facitities from our councils and Fed. and State Gov'ts.
When we are on a BUG ride on Sunday mornings there is little traffic and as a group we take the lane and ride the lenght of the bridge. It is very exhilarating to ride across this bridge-we havn't had any agression to date from cars etc.
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Permalink Reply by noelbike on
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I only use the road there, in both directions. The path is too narrow. Pity about the grate on the road that slows bike tyres down.
Meanwhile, the self appointed spokesman-for-pedestrians will eventually fade away and we'll all be able to get on better. He never seems interested in talking.
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Permalink Reply by Tony Arnold on -
The Spit Bridge is just one bridge in a very long list of poor facilities for cyclists and pedestrians.
The Gladesville Bridge is even worse. The Bike/Pedestrian path is about the same width, but is much longer and has a steep gradient on both sides (therefore increasing speeds on the downhill).
It seems that the only way we get improved facilities is when they upgrade the bridge for motorists and there is some space left over for us (such as the Iron Cove Bridge Duplication). Upgrading the Spit Bridge has been on the agenda for many years but no-one has wants to anger the millionaires whose views might be disrupted by an upgrade. I would say that we should support the upgrade, but I hate the idea of supporting more spending on expensive infrastructure for cars. The only plus side is that we might get some scraps...
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Permalink Reply by Bob Moore on -
It may be a bit of an old chestnut, but someone worked out that if they demolished the Gladesville Bridge and built a new lower one it would pay for itself in reduced petrol needed to climb over the ridiculously high arch on the existing bridge. No boats are remotely big enough to need that clearance these days, once the Navy quit storing armaments at Newington. And of course there used to be a path on the other side too, but they removed most of the width of that to put in another traffic lane, so it is now unrideable, or so I think, never having seen anyone on the west side.
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Permalink Reply by David W on -
"Almost" unrideable. I saw a cyclist heading north on the western side of Gladesville bridge last Sunday. He was going downhill at a very cautious 10 km/h or less...
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Permalink Reply by herzog on -
Seriously doubt that is the reason. More likely too much $$ to spend in a non-marginal seat.
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Permalink Reply by John Knight on
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A friend broke her leg descending Gladesville Bridge earlier this year after a brake failure. She had nowhere to go but into the armco railing. Then she rode home to Lane Cove before going to hospital and getting pins put in.
The incident has really knocked her confidence.
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Permalink Reply by Jonathon Troy on -
The thing that gets me about Scruby is he is sooooo much like his old sparring partner on the issue of the flag Bruce Ruxton. The shame about it is that no one has taken the p!ss out of him as they did with Bruce Ruxton see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0s_-gRoTdKc. There has to be someone who can do the same with Scruby and the Terror and BOF and Alan Jones and all the other members of the anticycling/antibike brain hive.
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Permalink Reply by Bob Moore on
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The trouble with Scruby is that he is right, peds get a raw deal, but his solutions are too legalistic and one dimensional. Councils hate him for long letters threatening legal action, when most councils just want to get on with turning a blind eye to illegal parking, poor footpaths etc. Takes up so much of their time answering his threats. Still, they manage to ignore pedestrians and cyclists pretty much, finding new and cleverer ways to continue looking after motorists. ( some exceptions, but very few).
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