New plans for 60km of cycling lanes through Burnside Council district

A CYCLING network - with more than 60km of bike routes - will be rolled out across Burnside from next year.

A CYCLING network - with more than 60km of bike routes - will be rolled out across Burnside from next year.

The Burnside Council project, including about 40 dedicated cycling routes, was expected to cost ratepayers about $680,000.

Work would include 15km of new bike lanes, links between existing bike lanes and making about 100 intersections safer for cyclists.

The council may also investigate lower speed limits, the creation of one-way streets and removing on-street parking to make roads more cycle friendly.

The last council week endorsed its bicycle strategy, drawn up by consultants Hub Traffic and Transport, after three years of planning.

The long-term strategy also included plans for dedicated bike routes for all schools in Burnside.

Mayor David Parkin believed it was important for students to be able to ride safely to and from school.

"Parents are getting too frightened to put their kids on bikes," Mr Parkin said.

"So we thought `how do we make our streets around our schools safer?' and this is what we came up with."

He said the council needed to move with the times.

"Suburban Adelaide has to think differently ... we can't expect roads to be safer for all users without changes."

Mr Parkin expected the council to run a pilot project with one school route before rolling out the others.

Burnside Primary School principal Sharon Broadbent supported the move towards dedicated cycling routes.

"If we had safe routes developed around the school we would encourage students over the age of 10 to use them," she said.

"There would need to be some safety education included that would focus on parents supporting their children to ride and the health benefits."

Burnside chief executive Paul Deb said the whole project was likely to take more than 15 years to complete.

Work would be staged and funding would be staggered.

For more news on the east and inner-south, pick up a copy of the Eastern Courier Messenger, read our digital edition online, or become a fan of our Facebook page