Maclean to Townsend cycleway to be completed after state funding

Pacific Highway bike path simultaneously lauded and panned will finally connect two Clarence Valley towns.

Clarence MP Chris Gulaptis with Clarence Valley Council Mayor Jim Simmons and his wife Lexie. A cycleway from Townsend to Maclean will be completed with state government funding. Bob and Judith Little from Maclean (in background) are frequent users of the pathway that traverses from the Maclean Interchange to Townsend and are looking forward to it linking to existing pathways at Townsend and Maclean.

A new bike path across the Pacific Highway described as “beautiful” but that didn’t actually link to any existing pathways will now fulfil its destiny by connecting two Lower Clarence towns.

Cyclists heading between Maclean and Townsend will soon no longer have to dismount or ride into oncoming traffic after the NSW Government announced it would fund a $700,000 pathway extension linking the Maclean interchange with existing paths.

Clarence MP Chris Gulaptis said that as a local resident, he understood how beneficial the new path would be to the area.

“In particular it links Maclean High School and Pacific Valley Christian School and gives safer access to town for residents of the Hillcrest Aboriginal community,” he said.

“It also provides safe access to the Townsend Park for residents of Maclean which is undergoing a major upgrade thanks to funding support from the NSW Government in partnership with Council.”

Works will commence on Jubilee St, Cameron St and Woombah St.

The funding comes from the NSW Government’s $250 million Public Spaces Legacy Fund as part of the COVID-19 Recovery Plan and will go toward works on both sides of the highway, at Jubilee St, Townsend and along Cameron and Woombah Streets in Maclean.

In September 2020, Councillor Greg Clancy successfully moved a motion to review Clarence Valley Council’s Bicycle Plan which was prepared before the construction of a number of infrastructure projects including the interchange at Ferry Park.

At the time avid Cyclist Judith Little highlighted the “dangerous disconnections” at the interchange which forced pedestrians and cyclists to cross the road on a corner to avoid heading into oncoming traffic on a narrow verge.