The cash injection comes as a reinstated cycleway along College Street – next to Hyde Park – will open to cyclists in January,more than seven years after when Duncan Gay was roads minister.
An artist’s impression of the planned cycleway on Oxford Street.City of Sydney
The planned along the northern edge of Oxford Street between Taylor Square and Hyde Park,as well as part of Liverpool Street,will link to bike paths in the CBD,as well as the restored College Street cycleway.
The City of Sydney council is about to begin tendering for the cycleway’s construction,which will start in the middle of 2023,after Sydney hosts – a global LGBTQ festival – in February and March.
The money for Oxford Street is part of a final tranche of $77 million being directed to 161 projects across 45 NSW councils from the government’s scheme for walkways and cycle paths. All up,$117 million will be dished out in 2022,up from earlier estimates of $55 million.
Cities and Active Transport Minister Rob Stokes said the state was leading the nation in investment in improved footpaths,bike lanes and other infrastructure,and the latest funding included more than $18 million for projects in western Sydney and $20 million in regional NSW.
The proposed cycleway will continue along Liverpool Street,next to Hyde Park.City of Sydney
“For children,older people,parents pushing prams or people with disabilities – a street without a footpath isn’t an inconvenience – it’s a barrier to moving freely in public space,” he said.
City of Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore said Oxford Street had the most reported bike crashes of the council’s streets,and a separated cycleway would improve safety for cyclists and reduce the number of riders on footpaths.
“Oxford Street is the[council’s] busiest bike route with over 2000 bike trips per day,” she said. “Cycling numbers have grown significantly over recent years,especially during COVID-19,when many took to cycling for the first time.”
The council initially proposed a but later ditched the idea in favour of a two-way bike path along the northern edge of the street. The former was scrapped due partly to the challenge posed by events such as the annual Mardi Gras parade.
City of Sydney Labor councillor Linda Scott said the Oxford Street cycleway was years overdue,yet it was important that the well-known strip was not dug up for the work just as hundreds of thousands of visitors arrived for WorldPride.
Other projects to receive government funding include a proposed two-way separated bike path on Kelly and Mary Ann streets in Ultimo ($3.2 million),and a boardwalk and shared path along the Hawkesbury River’s banks in Brooklyn ($3.8 million).
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