Cyclists and shop owners offer differing opinions over Geelong bike lanes

The City of Greater Geelong’s controversial plan to build bike lanes along a popular shopping strip has sparked debate with nearly a third of existing car parks to be lost.

Belmont traders and bike riders are divided over a controversial council plan to build protected bike lanes along the popular High St shopping strip, removing a third of existing on-street car parks.

The City of Greater Geelong is seeking community feedback on its TAC-funded $6.3m Building Better Bike Connections project for paths connecting the CBD to Waurn Ponds via Belmont, and to Herne Hill via Geelong West.

Councillors approved a tender process in March to deliver stage two of the southern link, the only section yet to be completed.

It would involve building a protected bike path from the Barwon River to Waurn Ponds via High St, Belmont.

Under the Belmont plans, one-way separated bike paths would be built on each side of High St, with about 30 carparking spaces removed from the existing 83, and the potential to double the number of trees along the strip.

Belmont bike lanes

Loss of parking has been widely criticised by opponents of the project, but a CoGG FAQ page noted there were about 1100 carparks in the High St area.

Traders’ views on the project are mixed, with some declaring it will kill off businesses High St while others say it will improve the area.

Joker Shoppe menswear owner Vincent Albanese said he would be pushing for the council to abandon the planned works and criticised previous consultations organised by the CoGG since 2018.

“The consulting was just done to railroad the decision, to put it in,” Mr Albanese said.

“I reckon about 80 per cent of people are against it for the simple reasons it’s dangerous, it removes parking and it’s harder to go shopping.”

Geelong Travel director Stuart Coffield said the project would damage businesses via the loss of on-street parking.

He has written to councillors, appealing for the project to be abandoned.

“If there is no parking there is no shopping,” Mr Coffield wrote.

“If people can’t come into my business to book in, they’ll just drive by.

“There will be limited car parks in High St so my prospective clients will drive past to Waurn

Ponds shopping centre, where there is ample parking. You have destroyed the city centre, from Gheringhap St to Moorabool St.”

Bicycle Centre Belmont staff member Sam Furphy supports the plans, as a local worker and a cyclist who frequently rides along High St.

“I reckon it’s a great idea,” Mr Furphy said.

“(Part of High St) is pretty steep, but I think that’s only part of the issue. The other section of High St is a lot flatter, and the changes would help to go in and out of shops and be sort of more pedestrian-orientated.”

“The plans would make the shops accessible for pedestrians or cyclists to come from the residential part of our neighbourhood, and cruise down to their shops and have a coffee and that sort of thing, treat it more like a mall or shopping strip, rather than such a thoroughfare of how it is at the moment with cars.

“There’s plenty of parking there for people to use, and then use the street as more of a mall.

“Even though it does seem like you can’t just park directly out the front of your shop, often you can’t do that anyway.”

Car-free city centre ‘a fantasy’: MP weighs in on bike lanes debate

Geelong’s controversial CBD bike lanes project has sparked intense debate from both supporters and opponents labelling them everything from a “disaster” to “progressive”, just days after the city called for community feedback.

An MP for the region has also weighed in on the project, raising major concerns with the “problematic” implementation of the completed CBD lanes.

The City of Greater Geelong on Monday launched a fresh round of community engagement on its Building Better Bike Connections project, seeking feedback on the completed and planned sections of the paths connecting the CBD to Waurn Ponds via Belmont, and to Herne Hill via Geelong West.

The paths, funded via a $6.3m Transport Accident Commission (TAC) grant, were described by the city as a “critical link in Geelong’s cycling network, connecting 25 per cent of Geelong’s population located south of the Barwon River to Geelong’s key employment precinct and transport hubs”.

Bike paths

The council in March approved a tender process to deliver stage two of the Southern Link – the only stage yet to be completed – building a protected bike path from the Barwon River to Waurn Ponds via High St, Belmont.

Western Victoria Liberal MP Bev McArthur inspected the existing CBD bike lanes this week, raising concerns with the removal of one lane of traffic from Gheringhap St and sections with bi-directional bike lanes.

“In my view the implementation of the cycle-lanes so far is problematic, and I am deeply concerned about what may happen in the future.”

“Cycle lanes and public transport may be desirable, but they will never suit all residents, all the time. We can’t destroy road and parking infrastructure to achieve the fantasy of a car-free city centre. Nor should we.

“The catastrophic effect on business of restricting traffic flow and parking doesn’t seem to get a look-in when council and government ­consider these matters.

“The result is expensive, intrusive and barely-used cycling infrastructure, at the cost of a thriving city centre.

“This would be damaging at the best of times, but following the disastrous consequences of Covid, these changes could be the final straw.”

Geelong Advertiser readers were quick to share their opinions on the bike lanes this week.

“It may have looked pretty on paper and popular for the ‘save the world brigade’, but it is nothing short of a disaster for motorists and the poor business folk,” Matthew wrote.

Meanwhile Paul wrote: “The city bike lanes are a disaster, and the High St ones will be a disaster for High St businesses. I avoid the city as much as possible now due to traffic chaos.”

However, Thys wrote: “Ultimately we have to decide whether we want a progressive city that encourages green forms of transport”.

“Talk of removing them is literally backwards.”

Why Geelong councillor suggests removing $2m worth of bike lanes

The City of Greater Geelong is calling for community feedback on a controversial major CBD bike lanes project, after one councillor suggested the city rip up about $2m worth of completed works.

The city on Monday launched the latest round of community engagement on its Building Better Bike Connections project, seeking feedback on the completed and planned sections of the paths connecting the CBD to Waurn Ponds via Belmont, and to Herne Hill via Geelong West.

Moorabool Street bike lane looking towards the CBD. Picture: Alan Barber

The paths, funded via a $6.3m Transport Accident Commission (TAC) grant, were designed to improve cyclist safety between the city’s suburbs, shopping areas and employment precincts.

The consultation comes after councillors in March approved a tender process to deliver stage two of the Southern Link – building a protected bike path from the Barwon River to Waurn Ponds via High St, Belmont. It is the only section of the project yet to be completed.

A trio of councillors opposed the March tender, with Cr Eddy Kontelj suggested the city “take a pause” on the project or use the TAC funding to instead “solve” or “remove” completed Stage One works.

“Personally, I believe we made an error with stage one in approving it,” Cr Kontelj warned at the time. “The routes we chose are wrong, they’re in the wrong place.”

Councillors Ron Nelson and Anthony Aitken also warned businesses on High St in Belmont would “go bust” as a result of the bike lane construction.

Cr Bruce Harwood this week said the community consultation aimed to capture feedback from users of the bike lanes.

“We would like to hear your experience on the completed sections of the project, to help us identify if any further improvements can be made to the links,” Cr Harwood said. “The feedback will also assist us as we progress the second stage of the Southern Link.”

Cr Harwood also called for input into designs for stage two of the southern route – particularly the proposed section on High St, Belmont – between Mt Pleasant Rd and Roslyn Rd – which would deliver separate bike lanes, car park changes and pedestrian safety improvements.

Feedback to a recent engagement regarding the city’s draft masterplan for improving Mercer, Gheringhap and Bayley Streets in the CBD gave some insight into concerns with the Gheringhap section of the bike lanes – with much of the 330 submissions referring to the project.

“The ‘upgrade’ to Gheringhap Street is diabolical,” SallyF commented.

“Driver vision is completely impeded, traffic flow and speed has been destroyed. It’s poor planning”

“Can we stop with the bike lanes, rarely used and reduce traffic flow,” Dejay said. “Bike lanes are for suburbs not cities.”

The city has described stage two of the southern route as a “critical link in Geelong’s cycling network, connecting 25 per cent of Geelong’s population located south of the Barwon River to Geelong’s key employment precinct and transport hubs”.

Originally published as Cyclists and shop owners offer differing opinions over Geelong bike lanes