Stunning drone footage of Kedron Brook Bikeway emerges as push for better bicycle network grows
It’s a bird’s eye view of the two-wheeled revolution taking over our city since lockdown – more and more of us are cycling to stay fit and get to where we need to go.
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AS Brisbane cyclists continue to turn out in force, one amateur drone operator on Brisbane’s northside, a keen cyclist himself, has taken to the skies to show a bikeway which has exploded in popularity like you’ve never seen it before.
It comes amid a growing expectation that cycling’s renaissance, driven by gym restrictions and social distancing concerns around public transport, will lead to greater investment in Brisbane’s cycle network, with Brisbane City Council and the State Government forming a new Active Travel Advisory Committee with community representatives.
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Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the purpose of the new committee would be to target missing links in the network.
“What has become clear to me is that while both the State Government and the city council have substantial and growing citywide networks, they’re not always as well co-ordinated as they could be,” Minister Bailey said.
The growing calls for a better cycle network are being pushed by heavy use of council bikeways, with data showing some have seen a 200 per cent increase in patronage over the COVID-19 shutdown.
One of these is the Kedron Brook Bikeway, running from Mitchelton in the western suburbs to Toombul in the north, which has seen an almost doubling of cyclists.
The drone operator from Stafford Heights, who asked not to be named, said he believes his footage of the dozens of cyclists and hundreds of pedestrians on either side of the Kedron Brook Bikeway will become a “historical document” in the future, capturing the way we have adapted to the health crisis and, perhaps, gotten back to our roots.
“It’s a real window into something you can never go back to,” he said of cycling’s annus mirabilis.
“I think cycling’s going to continue to grow.”
However, to do this, he said, will require gaps in the network to be filled.
“We have some great bikeways, but what if you’re not near a bikeway?” he asked.
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