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Councillors question Frome St Bikeway findings

Jun 23, 2015
Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

The experiences of residents and business owners conflict with the findings of the independent review of Frome Street Bikeway, several Adelaide City Councillors say.

The independent report into the controversial separated bikeway – released last week and due to be presented to a council committee tonight – found that traffic on Frome Street had decreased by 20 per cent, and travel times along the road had reduced slightly since the bikeway was constructed last year.

The consultant firms which conducted the evaluation, Studio Huss and CDM Research, used data from the system which operates the City of Adelaide’s traffic lights, among other traffic count methods, to arrive at the findings.

However, South Ward Councillor Alex Antic, Area Councillor Anne Moran and Deputy Lord Mayor Houssam Abiad told InDaily their experiences, and those of their constituents, conflicted with some of the report’s findings.

Antic said he was surprised by the finding that traffic had reduced on the road since the installation of the separated bike lanes.

“When you ask the residents and the ratepayers, they tell a very different story,” he said.

“I am not necessarily swayed by the findings. I tend to think that we have to listen to the people that pay the bills.”

He said he was concerned that, by reducing part of Frome Street to one driving lane each way, the project appeared to have created a traffic bottleneck.

“My perception and the perception of people that I’d spoke to prior to the report was that it was having an impact on the traffic and the street,” he said.

“It’s not always scientific evidence that will win the day … that is very much determined on the methodology used and the timing.

“We can do it without even the need to create the perception that the street is bottlenecked.”

Moran said she also disagreed with aspects of the report.

“My experiences and the experiences that are being relayed to me from the traders and from motorists and cyclists paint a very different picture than I’m getting from the report,” she said.

“The bit I won’t be agreeing with is the impact on the traffic.

“There’s a lot to be said for door knocking in the city, being an active local member, knowing what people want.

“Independent advice is really handy, and some of it has been really useful, but others we respectfully don’t think actually answer the questions that we want.

“The conclusions are lacking … it’s alright now, but will it be alright in the future?

“Our roads are only going to get busier, and (if) it’s not causing congestion now, it eventually will, because you’re taking a four-lane road and making it into a two-lane road.

“You don’t have to be Einstein to work out that that creates a bottleneck.

“I think the bikelane’s fantastic. It needs to be dedicated; it needs to be safe from the cars.

“(However) I do not see how it affects the cyclists at all whether we use the lane next to it as a driving lane a couple of hours a day.”

According to the report, travel delays along Frome Street are constrained by the intersections, not by mid-block capacity.

Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

It says that “the daily traffic demand of up to 12,000 vehicles per day … is near to the threshold of what would typically be considered a maximum traffic capacity for single lane urban arterial roads, but not beyond it”.

“Over-designing capacity that is under-utilised for the majority of the year would be a poor use of public resources and imposes undue restrictions on the use of limited public space for other, more productive uses.”

It says that there were legitimate safety concerns for cyclists at intersections when motorists turn left on the street.

It also says an alternative design for the bikeway – where cement planter boxes would be removed to accommodate two driving lanes on each side of Frome Street at peak times – would be overly costly, and would likely have a “negligible” impact on congestion.

However, Abiad said he believed returning two driving lanes each way on Frome Street would reduce congestion.

“(The authors of the report) don’t see that there would be a significant change in the amount of traffic that the road would be able to handle; I disagree with that,” he said.

“I think, on the contrary, if we allowed (two driving lanes each way) we would be able to get more traffic in and out of the area quicker and also safer.

“My constituents have continuously told me in the area that they have concerns of safety, and also they have concerns about access and egress, especially around peak times.

“I represent constituents there; I’m not there to argue with engineers.

“If we want to roll out more of these bike lanes around the city, we need to be respectful to both motorists and also bike riders in the area.”

Abiad said he would like council administration to investigate the cheapest method of returning two driving lanes each way on Frome Street.

However, he said he would not support the change if it were too costly.

Area Councillor Robert Simms said he acknowledged that there was some “community backlash” about the separated bikeway, but he accepted the findings of the report.

“The experience interstate and overseas around separated bikeways is that whernever you change the status quo with respect to transport, there’s sometimes a bit of a community backlash,” he said.

“I think that’s a natural part of any kind of reform phase.

“What the report shows is that this has been successful.

“Ultimately, members of the community recognise that we need to be looking at separated bikeways and rolling them out around our city and around the state more broadly.”

The report will be presented to the council’s Economic and Community Development Committee tonight.

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