Geelong council strikes again

[Thoglette]

Geelong bike-lane project shelved halfway through construction, with $3m in government funding lost

Bike lane “paused”, funding thus lost. Meanwhile less people ride but get more often.

[g-boaf]

That's incredibly stupid. Who is informing their strategy, Duncan Gay?

[CmdrBiggles]

Consultants informed the decision, to the tune of $344,000 (!). No consultation with cyclist groups in Geelong at all — their opinions and recommendations, quote, "are not reliably or convincingly informed by the research and reality of the majority of road users in the City of Greater Geelong CBD...". The majority road users in this case are cars — far too many of them.

Most of the councillors are very, very anti-cyclist. I have clashed angrily with two. We're on a losing streak, and this stuffed Council couldn't be happier. What we do have for use at the moment is good — in parts! I only use the paths and on-road separated lane of Moorabool Street; nothing else in Geelong has that level of finish (aka, separation) or refinement, with existing on-road routes taking cyclists far away from where they want to go (being the city centre, though why anybody would go there puzzles me: it is dead as a doorknob now). Other arterial roads have green-segregated lanes and generally are very good and networked to ride, if you don't mind dodging flotsam and jetsam in the bike lane (gutters, bolts, tools, bullets, fertiliser bags, detonators, nails, screws...)

I have made repeated representations to the COGG for on-road lanes in some places. Nothing happens. During the Waurn Ponds Rail Duplication project (started in April, finishes 25th of this month), the extreme danger of a couple of roads nearby me was borne out with long-time cyclists reporting abuse, deliberate close passes and bottles being thrown from cars by passengers. Reserve Road, Grovedale comes up very frequently. The traffic — normal daily and peak-hour — is diverted down this wide, then very narrow road, to Barwon Heads Road (a longer route to Torquay and the coast), because of the Surf Coast Highway rail crossing being torn up (reopens this Saturday) that has inconveniently closed the usual direct route south to the coast.

The blunt summary is plain to see. Nobody in City Hall wants bike lanes or infrastructure to benefit cyclists in Geelong now. It is very pro-car/pro-Raptor/pro-Ranger, with big, antsy egos to match. I fear the facility running along Moorabool Street outside GMHBA Stadium (where Ashley has been pictured in the news article) is going to be torn up because motorists want that length of road (1km) to park their cars!