Save our Green Spine community march/ride (EVENT CANCELLED)

by -

On Tuesday 24 February, Geelong City Council made a decision, based on very little supporting evidence, that the separated bike lanes, installed as part of the Green Spine were contributing to traffic congestion. As a result in a 6 to 5 vote, Geelong City Council voted to spend up to $2 million to remove the separated bike lane on the north side of Malop St.

There is no business case to support the destruction. No plans. No civic consultation. No report from the CEO. No expert opinion.

The Green Spine is an $8 million dollar, award winning project that is yet to be completed.

The construction of this project took 11 months and caused major disruption to businesses on this section on Malop St. Creating another construction site on this same stretch of road may force some businesses to close or relocate rather than going through the same disruption for a second time.

This move by Geelong City Council does not portray Geelong as a clever or creative city, nor does it fit with the recently adopted Sustainability Frame that was voted on at the very same council meeting on the 24 February.

We ask that all community members who care about this issue whether its because you’re passionate about cyclist safety, want to support local businesses, don’t want to see our local council wasting rate payers money, or you’re concerned that this is backwards step when it comes to addressing climate change, to attend this community rally.

Join our protest ride/walk (EVENT CANCELLED)

5.30pm Friday 20 March 2020
City Hall steps on Gheringhap street

We encourage you to wear Green to save our Green Spine
Bring your bike or your walking shoes as a community march/cycle will happen through Geelong CBD, including Malop St.

This community rally is supported by:
Bicycle Users Geelong
Extinction Rebellion Geelong
Climate Justice Alliance Geelong
Cycling Geelong

Council to decide the shape of the Geelong to Waurn Ponds bike project

by -

The southern link of Better Bike Connections project (Waurn Ponds to the CBD) will be on the Geelong Council agenda for the 30th April council meeting!!!

The Council is likely to decide on the layout of the high street section (separated or shared) and potentially the route of the Moorabool street section.

The project (if done right) will deliver safe and direct bike routes through major corridors that are very unconformable places to ride currently. This will obviously benefit rider who ride already and also people who don’t ride because of safety concerns.

A vocal group of traders have been lobbying councillors to oppose the project… So we need you help get the best result for all riders. It is important that council also hear from members of the community who want the project to go ahead in its full form.

The most effective ways of doing this is:

  1. a friendly call/email to your councillor (links below) to let them know your views, and
  2. turn up to the council meeting on the 30th and ask a question/provide statements demonstrating your support for the project.

It’s our view on the project that:

  • bike riding should be an viable option to people of a wide range of ages and abilities to safely ride to destinations like shopping areas and key employment precincts – this project will enable that along this route.
  • more people on bikes means few cars on the road – benefiting the community through safety and health for riders and reduced traffic, noise and pollution for all.
  • option 2b or 3 will be best for High street. 2b being safely separated on both side of the street while option 3 also doing that in a similar way but with some more space for pedestrians.
  • the Moorabool street route must stay in the proposed route (Moorabool street – Carr street – Gheringhap street) – not detour through Kardinia park or via Yarra street as was part of the discussion.  Moorabool street – Carr street – Gheringhap street is most direct route between nodes of activity like the South Geelong train station, GMHBA stadium, with river/bridge access.

 

Contact a Councillor via email or phone:

Bruce Harwood (Mayor)

Kardinia   0434 307 042
bharwood@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

 

Pat Murnane

Kardinia    0434 307 033
pmurnane@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

 

Ron Nelson

Kardinia   0429 531 875
rnelson@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

 

Peter Murrihy (Deputy Mayor)

Brownbill  0434 307 045
pmurrihy@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

 

Sarah Mansfield

Brownbill    0436 343 642
smansfield@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

 

Anthony Aitken

Windermere   0434 307 044
aaitken@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

Kylie Grzybek

Windermere  0434 307 043
kgrzybek@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

Eddy Kontelj

Brownbill   0455 532 006
ekontelj@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

Stephanie Asher

Bellarine    0413 369 719
sasher@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

Jim Mason

Bellarine    0434 307 048
jmason@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

Trent Sullivan

Bellarine   0434 307 050
tsullivan@geelongcity.vic.gov.au

Vote on bicycle lanes on High street Belmont

by -

The Geelong Council are planning at bike path along High street Belmont as part of a larger bicycle connections project that will link Waurn Ponds to Geelong.

There is a campaign by some people/traders who want to protect some car parking on High street at the expense of your safety. You have the opportunity to influence how Geelong’s biggest bicycle project goes by adding your view to the equation – this project needs the support of all riders!

Take this survey if you’d like bike paths on High street Belmont and value the wellbeing of people on two wheels.

There are four options for people to choose. Avoid option one as it is the status quo for riding while all other options provide safe, separated infrastructure for riders.

Take the survey

Our bicycle group are about safety for ALL bike riders –  young , old, fast, slow, experienced and newbies… We also advocate for the people who’d like to ride but are not for safety reasons.

Option 3:

A ”shared” bicycle lane…. We know cars don”t share well on such a busy street.

Council closer to building two big bike paths…

by -

Get behind our biggest bicycle infrastructure project ever!

The Building Better Bike Project  project will create two large new major cycling routes .

    1. The southern link will connect Central Geelong with Waurn Ponds via Belmont.
    2. The western link will connect Central Geelong with Herne Hill, via Geelong West.

These projects will make it safer and easier for people to ride and help people get back on bikes.

Have a look at the plans and take the survey. Council need to know how important it will be to all riders!

Cycling in Geelong on Wikipedia

by -

We’ve made a tentative start into recording the people, places and moments of Cycling in Geelong with a Wikipedia page.

Take a look at Cycling in Geelong on Wikipedia. We’ve also created a page for the Ted Wilson trail.

It is only a start and they will need contributions from people like you to make them great resources. If you have anything to add (with references) you can email through to us to update but preferably you can update it yourself (as is nature of Wikipedia).

Happy reading.

Godzilla roads swallowing up cars by the dozen

by -

Are Godzilla roads swallowing up cars and drivers by the dozen?!

It’s easy to blame a piece of asphalt for killing people… But it’s really about vehicles, speed and humans.

We applaud TAC, Vicroads and the Addy for this awareness campaign they are on.

We hope that those agencies can see the sense in taking cars off the roads (not adding more) as well as making existing ones safer – Vicroads spends about a billion dollars each year on new roads. This adds capacity to a handle more cars and make it easier to drive. These streets never make it easier to ride – every street is car priority.

Building roads for cars forces more people into cars that don’t want to or shouldn’t be driving.

Build the local bike infrastructure so people are not forced to drive for the 15% of trips that are 3km or less.