Melbourne Is Getting 40 Kilometres of New Protected Bike Lanes

From 11.59pm on Wednesday, July 1, until at least Wednesday, July 29, stay-at-home orders have been reintroduced in ten Melbourne postcodes, which means their residents can only leave for one of four reasons: work or school, care or care giving, daily exercise or food and other essentials. For more information, head to the DHHS website. 

While Melburnians are encouraged to continue working from home if possible, the City of Melbourne is getting ready for residents to start hitting the road once again. To help make it a little easier to get to and from work in the near future, the Council is constructing 40 kilometres of new protected bike lanes in and around the CBD.

Part of the previously announced ten-year Transport Strategy 2030, the bike lanes' construction is being fast tracked so that Melburnians will be able to more safely travel around the city. "By fast-tracking the delivery of bike lanes on key routes, we're creating streets that people can feel confident riding along, which in turn will free up space on our roads, buses, trams and trains," Lord Mayor Sally Capp said in a statement.

The bike lanes will help better connect Carlton, East Melbourne, North Melbourne, Brunswick and West Melbourne with the CBD and will be rolled out in two stages. The first stage, slated for completion in late 2020 or early 2021, features the following five routes:

• Exhibition Street stage one (Flinders Street to Bourke Street)
• Rathdowne Street (Victoria Street to Faraday Street)
• William Street (Dudley Street to Flinders Street)
• Abbotsford Street (Flemington Road to Queensberry Street)
• Swanston Street (Grattan Street to Cemetery Road)

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The protected bike lanes will be physically separated from cars and constructed using a combination of plastics, rubber and recycled materials. To construct the lanes, 228 car parking spots will need to be removed, according to The Age, but the Council is expecting this to have a "minimal impact" as it's a fraction of its total 23,500 metered and unmetered spaces on the streets.

Between the hectic traffic, overcrowded tram stops, the clogged-up footpaths and all the construction going on at the moment, Melbourne's CBD can sometimes feel like a big pile of stress. But things are (hopefully) changing. As well as the Transport Strategy 2030, and the new bike lanes, the city is getting ready to welcome the new Metro Tunnel project, which will be finished by 2025, bringing a new underground line and five new stations to help people get in and out of the CBD.

For more information about the City of Melbourne's new planned bike lanes and Transport Strategy 2030, head to the council website.