Design flaws in city bike lanes exposed just three years after being installed

The City of Melbourne has been blasted for their rollout of the controversial bike lanes, with the design labelled an “epic fail” which needs fixing just three years after being installed.

The design of many city bike lanes is under fire. Picture: Ian Currie

The City of Melbourne’s botched CBD bike lane rollout was done so poorly that the cycle safety infrastructure is already crumbling around three years after being installed.

Council Watch president Dean Hurlston said Town Hall’s inability to deliver quality infrastructure projects was worrying and costly for local ratepayers.

“Surely the council’s engineers and experts would know that any bike lane infrastructure needs to be designed for the potential of vehicle impact just like gutters,” he said.

“This is pretty basic infrastructure so it is very concerning that they can’t get it right.

“It‘s yet another expensive and epic fail from the City of Melbourne.”

Workers operate inside one of the bike lanes on William St. Picture: Ian Currie

Mr Hurlston said the council needed to be transparent with the community about how much it was going to cost to fix the bike lanes.

“Ratepayers deserve to know how much of their money is being wasted by the City of Melbourne because they couldn’t get it done properly the first time,” he said.

The council has rolled out 20 kilometres of bike lanes in the city since December 2020, as part of a push to fast-track cycling infrastructure to reduce emissions and encouraging riding.

Lord Mayor Sally Capp paused the City of Melbourne’s bike lane roll out in mid 2022, after widespread criticism from motorists and businesses that the design of the infrastructure was not up to standard and increased congestion.

A bike lane in the middle of two vehicles at the corner of Elizabeth St and Victoria St. Picture: Ian Currie

Melbourne Bicycle Users Group spokesman Nik Dow is a strong supporter of CBD bike lanes but said many had been damaged by vehicles.

“The cars tend to hit them when they are leaving the intersection and they aren’t looking where they are going,” he said.

Mr Dow said the areas around intersections were the most likely to be damaged.

“Probably the council needs to look at making those end pieces (of the bike lane infrastructure) stronger because that’s where they get damaged,” he said.

“The busier the road, the quicker they get damaged. The council will have to keep repairing them.

“Eventually you could look at putting some bluestone at the intersection areas – where they are most likely to get broken – to make them more durable.”

A Toyota decides to change lanes and crosses the bike lane. Picture: Ian Currie

A City of Melbourne spokeswoman encouraged community members to report any issues with crumbling bike lanes to the council.

“Since the bike lane infrastructure has been installed, some infrastructure has deteriorated after repeated impacts by vehicles,” she said.

“Council is investigating the viability of alternative materials which can better withstand vehicle impacts.

“We regularly inspect bike lane infrastructure to identify and repair damage, in line with the council’s Road Management Plan.”