Smooth ride into town

By Chris Thomson | posted on November 17, 2017

A 2.5km, $1.2 million missing link in the cycle network from Little Grove to the Albany Town Hall is about to be added to Albany’s expanding chain of cycle paths.

Stage one of the two-stage Mount Elphinstone-to-CBD bike path is out for tender, and senior city engineer Andrew Greenwood said construction is slated to start in January.

“The project will run from Collie Street, just behind the Town Square,” he told The Weekender.

“The path along Frenchman Bay Road is quite a popular tourist recreation path, but at the moment there’s no link through to the city.

“Because of the railway and the road trains on Princess Royal Drive it’s a route that is not popular for cycling, apart from hardened cyclists.”

Stage one of the new bicycle/ pedestrian path will run from Town Square, along the northern side of Grey Street West, to the top of Carlisle Street, a distance of 1.2km.

Budgeted at $590,000, stage one is scheduled for completion in April.

Stage two, which will join the existing Frenchman Bay Road cycle path that stretches to Little Grove, is budgeted to occur next financial year at a similar cost.

The city’s TravelSmart officer, Julie Passmore, said the new route would give commuters and recreational cyclists more options for getting to the city safely.

“It gives the opportunity to be separated from traffic, and for people with children it’s safer, definitely,” she said.

“Surveys that we’ve done have shown cycling is growing in popularity and we’re definitely getting more people arriving to city events by bike.

“We’re seeing a steady growth in people commuting, and a growing positivity about cycling here from visitors as well as residents.”

Contractors interested in tendering for the job had best get on their bikes.

Tenders close at 2pm on November 29.