Maroubra Road: Randwick Council vote to remove cycleway from masterplan

Despite cycleways popping up in seemingly all corners of Sydney’s east, plans for a stretch of bike path along one of the region’s busiest roads have been abandoned. Find out why.

The proposed cycleway on Maroubra Rd. Photo: Randwick Council

Despite cycleways popping up in seemingly all corners of Sydney’s east, plans for a stretch of bike path along one of the region’s busiest roads have been abandoned in light of concerns of cost and the impact on local businesses.

Randwick Council endorsed a bold vision for Maroubra at Tuesday night’s meeting, after nine of 15 councillors voted to “delete” plans for a cycleway on Maroubra Rd which had been initially included as part of the masterplan.

One of the councillors who supported the Maroubra Rd cycleway, Greens councillor Kym Chapple, said the road was currently a “deathtrap” and that she cycled from Maroubra to Sydney each day.

“I just think it’s deeply disappointing that we’re not going to be … progressing [the cycleway] in any way,” Ms Chapple said.

“There is no actual safe way to get from each side at Maroubra through to the cycleways that start in Kensington at the moment, there’s just no actual legitimate connection.

The proposed cycleway on Maroubra Rd. Photo: Randwick Council

“The main people who could use [the cycleway] are … people up at Eastgardens who want to get down to the beach.

“[There’s] never going to be enough parking, it’s too far to reasonably walk. But, they could so easily ride down if there was a decent path.

Randwick councillor Kym Chapple.

While acknowledging building a cycleway was a “really big decision”, Ms Chapple said councillors weren’t even asked to make a decision during the meeting.

She referenced Randwick Council’s consultation which she said showed community members wanted a cycleway.

Former Randwick mayor Danny Said supported the removal of the cycleway from the masterplan, telling councillors Maroubra Rd was already “very hard to drive through” and the project could cost up to $10m.

“That money could be … allocated to the traffic signals and we could do this as fast as possible and keep our residents safe,” he said.

Speaking to this publication following the meeting, Ms Chapple said many people had indicated making the road safer was a top priority.

“A bicycle link here has the potential to remove many cars from the road while giving families a safe way to get down to the beach,” she said.

Bicycle NSW CEO Peter McLean said the group was “very disappointed” with the decision “as it would have provided a safe and efficient option for more people of more ages and abilities to [use] active transport”.

He said Bicycle NSW had previously made a submission to Randwick Council in support of the cycleway.