Belair Rd bike path request thrown out

HILLS residents will not get a new commuter bike path any time soon after Mitcham councillors threw out a request to investigate the idea, with one elected member claiming it could cost up to $100 million.

The existing Belair-Lynton bike path.

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HILLS residents will not get a new commuter bike path any time soon after Mitcham councillors threw out a request to investigate the idea.

Cr Jane Bange last week asked her fellow elected members to back a feasibility study into a bike path alongside Belair Rd.

Mitcham councillor Jane Bange.

But she was unable to win over the councillors representing the plains section of the district.

Cr Bange wanted the council to approach Waite state Liberal MP Sam Duluk and Boothby federal Liberal MP Nicolle Flint to discuss the matter and seek joint funding for a feasibility study into the pathway.

She also suggested it could be used as an access road for emergency services.

Speaking after the meeting, Cr Bange said she would not give up on the idea.

“Maybe I’ll have to wait for a new council and see how we go then,” Cr Bange said.

“It’s a project worth doing. It’s at least worth looking at and if we don’t try it at all, we’ll never find out.

“From people who are keen on cycling, they’ve said it’s the most logical route because of the incline. If we want to get cars off the road, that’s what we’re on about.”

Cyclists ride up Belair Rd during the 2015 Tour Down Under. Picture: Sarah Reed

She said cyclists did not feel safe riding on Belair and Old Belair roads, yet they had no other way of cycling to the plains.

“A lot of studies have shown if people feel unsafe, they won’t take a bike … particularly women,” she said.

“You have to feel safe and separate from the traffic.”

Cr John Wilson — a former engineer who voted against the study — said the plan would be “patently uneconomic”.

“The issue, really, is how do you do the engineering of that road?” Cr Wilson said.

“It’s very difficult. You either dig into the hill or you cantilever the path over the side.

“It would be very expensive.”

He speculated that it could cost as much as $100 million.

“Riding a bike down Belair Rd would be a nightmare safety hazard — I don’t disagree with that,” he said.

“The problem is the solution that has been suggested is just too expensive.

“I think for something as simple as a bike path, you cannot afford that amount of money.”

Cr Bange first raised the idea of a separate sealed bikeway along Belair Rd last October.

At the time, she said cyclists were taking their lives into their own hands and suggested that if a bikeway were built, cyclists should be banned from using Old Belair Rd.