Petition gets Attention

A facebook petition on lack of action on new cycleways in August 2024 gathered hundreds of signatures and was presented to Council by IWBC. Cyclists organised rides to the meetings and spoke in favour of a number of positive cycling motions put up by Labor and Green Councillors.

Subsequently IWBC members met with the Mayor and senior staff in December 2024 to discuss matters such as lack of resources and dedicated staff to get projects ready. The meeting was apparently a positive one. Council and the Mayor ware realising that the growing population and increasing housing densities need good cycling and walking conditions if traffic congestion and pollution is to be avoided and grid lock averted. Plus the health, greenhouse gas reduction and other benefits of Active Transport.

40 K Speed Limit Change

The IW Council and the State Government have put a plan forward to have most speed limits lowered to 40, except for some State and Regional Roads. While welcomed it fails to recognise that most cities and some countries around the world have adopted 30 as the Urban Default, where crashes are much less likely and 95% survivable, and streets are much more pleasant. See 30please.org for more, or Bicycle NSW has good articles.

it is pleasing to see that some State or Regional roads that were 60, and where cyclists often ride, have been reduced to 50 recently, eg The Crescent, Annandale, and Sydenham Rd, Livingstone Rd and Railway Tce in Petersham. Speed limit changes are published on the Transport for NSW web site.Anyone can write in and ask for a lower speed limit on a road.

Lilyfield Rd Cycleway- 10 years in the making.

A revised plan for a separated cycleway has been prepared by consultants Complete Urban. This will be the fourth plan, after earlier plans from 2016 were withdrawn after resident backlash about loss of parking. The last plan in 2022 was, in our view, a good one, but it was withdrawn because of “concerns” about tying in with Rozelle Railyard Parklands. Some two years wasted, everyone knew where the tie-in was going to be- Ryan St. The new plan was supposed to be ready in early 2025 for consultation but it wasnt.

Public Consultation is now expected in around May 2026, after unexplained delays, likely to have been difficulties TfNSW Active Transport section (the funding body) had with the preliminary designs- didn’t go far enough.

Update in October 2025

Lilyfield Rd Cycleway plan was again before TfNSW for checking and funding approval. We finally saw the plans in January 2026! It will be a separated two-way bike path from Hawthorne Canal to Ryan St, where it will join the path through Rozelle Parklands to Anzac Bridge. The path will start on the north side up the steep initial hill to Mary St lights and along to just past Norton St, handily avoiding turning traffic, where it will cross over to the south side on a bicycle crossing. Only a few car spots near Mary St will be taken. Widths are substandard, below the “desirable minimum” of 3 m.[Aspects of Cycling, Austroads, 2017]

As in the 2018 plan, Bike Leichhardt does not support the narrow path on the 8% uphill from Hawthorne Canal. The Austroads guides and the NSW Cycling Toolbox say extra width is needed on steep hills, preferably closer to 4 m, to allow for speed differentials between downhill riders and slower, possibly wobbly uphill riders.

They could do better between Balmain Rd and Catherine St, if they used a bit of the unused footpath on the railway side, or better, if car parking was removed on that non-residential side. Removing of parking is seen as likely to cause resident backlash to the project, but under the new RUSA(2024) regulations it is clear that space for bicycles has priority over space for parked cars.

We are not happy that bike lanes aren’t being considered east of Ryan St for local trips. Council wants angle parking along the Park frontage instead. As noted in our earlier submissions, Council should be encouraging walking and cycling to the park, not driving. We are hoping space can still be found for a bike lane on one side of the road. As with our Masterplan submission, we feel that Lilyfield Rd would be a good candidate for a lower speed limit, and surrounding streets a good area for a 30 K Zone, as is now allowable under revised speed limit regulations.

After Public Exhibition a final plan will be done, ready for submission for the usual State funding round in November 2026, and construction, finally, in 2026/2027.

White Bay Power Station.

Placemaking NSW has received $17m funding for active transport works around the recently renovated and repurposed Power Station. The shared path on Victoria Rd east of Robert St is to be widened by using some of the Power Station land adjacent to the current path. The bus stop on Robert St near Victoria Rd will be relocated off the shared path or the path rerouted around the back of the stop. And last but not least a connection direct to the Victoria Rd underpass and Anzac Bridge path from Robert St is planned, on the flat land next to the pier Station, opening maybe late 2025. A temporary path is already built but can only be used when no events or construction.

Sydney Ports

A meeting was held in November 2024 with Sydney Ports about future bike links to East Balmain and connections to the Glebe Island Bridge or Anzac Bridge on Port land at White Bay. Members of Bike Leichhardt and Balmain Rozelle Climate Change Active Transport Group attended. Sydney Ports has just finished a Masterplan for White Bay and were generally supportive of links we proposed, such as opening Lower Booth St so cyclists could get to Donnelly St more directly from Robert St, and getting to the old Glebe Island Bridge. They said the old bridge might have to wait until 2032, when the Metro will open, for it to be opened as a bike and pedestrian way.

Greenway– November 2025. Official opening on 14 December 2025! Work is finished on the section between Parramatta Rd and Canterbury Rd, with several tunnels already built or under construction at Parramatta Rd, Longport St, Davis St and Constitution Rd. See Inner West Council Greenway page for the latest, or go for a ride!

New Inner West Bike Routes.

Well known consultant and Bike East member Dick van den Dool was employed by Council to select new routes for the Bicycle Strategy and Action Plan and sift through lists of current routes and works supplied by Bike Leichhardt and IWBC that need upgrades. He was to report in early 2025 but now Council says it won’t be until 2026, ‘to inform their infrastructure needs under Fairer Future”. Shades of the Parklands delay. We have seen a copy of the routes, and are bemused by some omissions, but pleased by some inclusions, like Johnston St.

Council has a few projects ready and some almost ready for funding applications but they need to have more “in the pipe line”, and ready to go, to attract very limited State Government Active Transport grants. Labor councillors have promised to double the spend by 2028, but we have doubts they can get enough projects selected, concept designs done, consulted on, final designs done and approved, further delayed by not releasing the Van den Dool report.

IWBC has also been having quarterly meetings with Council engineers to discuss many smaller “works for bikes” that will improve access.

Want More News!

***Current news is often put up on our facebook page at /bikeleichhardt or on Bike Marrickville group page. Another popular face book group with current news and discussion is Sydney Bicycle Commuters (Old and New). Bicycle NSW facebook and website have good info or articles. ***

IWBC.ORG.AU has more details and news on bike routes and Council meetings.

Bike Leichhardt is a member of Better Streets Australia and supports Walk Sydney and 30please.org, the campaign for a 30 K default urban speed limit, to replace the current 50.