Melbourne City Council to upgrade dangerous crash zone for cyclists and pedestrians

A DANGEROUS collision zone involving cyclists and pedestrians is set for an upgrade under a Melbourne City Council plan.

A DANGEROUS collision zone involving cyclists and pedestrians is set for an upgrade under a Melbourne City Council plan.

Pedestrians play lottery with their safety during peak times as cyclists zoom along Southbank Promenade trying to get to and from work.

In the past two years, the council has received at least 100 complaints about cyclists and pedestrians clashing, with Southbank the most common location.

Council incident reports obtained by the Herald Sun reveal pedestrian concern about speeding ­cyclists, with calls for a crackdown.

One outraged pedestrian said most cyclists travelled at “alarmingly dangerous speeds”.

“The cyclists appear to have an air of arrogance and couldn’t care less about the pedestrians. It is only a matter of time before serious injury occurs, if it hasn’t already,’’ the report said.

Cyclists raised concerns about paths being blocked by objects such as rowing boats, slippery surfaces and crowds around major events.

“This was when a man decided to walk into me aggressively and knock me off my bike claiming I had no right to be there as it was a pedestrian-only walkway,” a cyclist reported.

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said he had many approaches about the issue.

Melbourne City Council has received at least 100 complaints about cyclists. Picture: Hamish Blair

“I get complaints about it regularly from people who’ve had near misses or people who’ve had collisions,” he said.

“It’s a very dangerous strip, it’s pretty bad. That would be our highest collision bicycle-pedestrian area in the city, and sometimes they’re collisions at speed.”

While the council had installed rumble strips on the promenade to deter speeding cyclists, the measure hasn’t worked.

City of Melbourne city design director Professor Rob Adams said the council will redesign a landscaped area between Queensbridge Square and the Evan Walker Pedestrian Bridge to better separate pedestrians and cyclists.

“There will be an area that’s more comfortable for people to walk on, but not that comfortable to ride a bike on,” he said.

“It will be up against a green area, so we’ll create a sort of a zone where if you’re walking or sitting, you don’t get somebody running over you.”

It will be funded from a $100 million community benefits package provided by Crown Casino and Schiavello Group under their $2.1 billion plan for the Queensbridge Hotel Tower.

One outraged pedestrian said most cyclists travelled at “alarmingly dangerous speeds”.

The council’s masterplan for nearby City Rd proposes other cycling routes, including Southbank Boulevard, Dodds St and Kavanagh St, to connect to Southbank and ease the pressure on the promenade.

Despite new signage and speed-bump-like strips, cyclists have not slowed down along the promenade.

Mr Doyle has previously described some rogue cyclists as the “Lycra mafia” after they refused to slow down and share the path with pedestrians.

While the speed limit is 10kmh, speed gun tests conducted by the Herald Sun previously have clocked bike riders risking police fines by doing more than 25kmh in the shared zone.

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@JMasanauskas