News / Road Safety
End of the road for De Carle Street separated bike lane
Safety risks were insurmountable so project will not go ahead
Mark Phillips
MERRI-BEK Council has scrapped a much-anticipated separated bike lane in the southern part of De Carle Street after its engineers raised concerns it would create safety risks for cyclists and motorists.
At its April meeting, the council voted unanimously to abandon the project between Moreland Road and The Avenue in Coburg and to instead focus on improving cycling infrastructure on nearby Barrow Street. Instead, the bike lane will only go between The Avenue and Rennie Street.
A separated lane in De Carle Street has long been anticipated by cyclists as a key addition to north-south routes connecting Brunswick and Coburg, and to make cycling safer for children attending the Merri-bek Primary School in Moreland Road.
The concept has had a long and tortured history since it was was first floated five years ago.
The council has twice approved the project in 2021 and 2023. In late-2023, former councillor Helen Pavlidis unsuccessfully pushed not to go ahead with the project.
In the past, both the Merri-bek Bicycle Users Group and representatives of the primary school have spoken passionately at council meetings in favour of separated bike lanes in De Carle Street, which is used by more than 3000 motor vehicles a day.
Funding of $166,000 was allocated in the current year’s council budget towards the project, which was to have included the removal of a small number of on-street car parking bays.
But further design works by council engineers have identified 10 new safety concerns about the separated bike lanes for both cyclists and motorists, including the impact of narrower driving lanes for two-way traffic and visibility issues at roundabouts.
One potential solution was to remove all on-street parking from at least one side of De Carle Street, and another was to turn De Carle Street into a one-way road, but neither was considered feasible compared with discontinuing the project all together.
Councillor Adam Pulford, who had been one of the project’s main advocates, said he accepted the reasons not to go ahead with the section between Moreland Road and The Avenue.
He said the designs had uncovered several challenges and the safety risks could not be resolved.
“I am sorry for community members who spoke up if you’re feeling disappointed, but know that council tried to honour those wishes and just found it’s not able to work on De Carle Street,” he said.
Read more:
Faith Hunter, the convenor of Merri-bek Bicycle Users Group and a member of the council’s Sustainable Transport Advisory Committee, said she had been briefed and was satisfied the council had made a correct decision.
“The protected bike lanes that could be built within the scope of the original council resolution did not appear safe to me,” she said.
“They also don’t address some of the other significant issues with the street, such as the speeding east-west traffic.
“BUG are looking forward to seeing what officers come up with for the wider area as a whole to address rat-running traffic on these local residential streets and the safety of primary school students.”
Unspent money allocated towards the De Carle Street project will instead be used to improve student safety around Merri-bek Primary School for walking and riding, and at school drop off times.
School principal Maria Giordano said the decision not to go ahead with the bike lane was disappointing as there were safety issues for students caused by the amount of traffic at the start and end of each day.
But she said the school’s major concern was to improve Blair Street, an east-west road that bisects De Carle Street. It is seeking the installation of bollards to prevent double parking and other driving infringements at the school gates.
“If anything, I think there needs to be a bike lane along Blair Street rather than De Carle, because students use that to get to school more than De Carle Street,” she said.
The council will also look at other active transport improvements in Barrow Street, which is considered a more strategic north-south route because it is further east from Sydney Road and the Upfield path.
Barrow Street already has a permanent road closure at Moreland Road, a trial road closure further north at Harding Street, and a number of traffic calming measures.
Council staff said it also provides good connectivity to Merri-bek Primary School via Blair Street.
Support independent local journalism
We are an independent hyperlocal news organisation owned and run by the people in your community. With your support, we can continue to produce unique and valuable local journalism for Brunswick and the inner north of Melbourne.
