Healthy Active by Design

Design Feature

Type of Project: Local Government Initiative

State: Tasmania

Location: Regional

The Devonport City’s Cycling Network Strategy 2010-2013 was a Council initiative set up to promote community participation in riding for recreation, health and for commuting. The argument for the strategy was that cycling is a relatively low cost, healthy and sustainable mode of transport. The intent of the strategy was to provide a fully developed cycling network connecting the Devonport community and to be part of the network of cycleways linking communities on the North-West Coast of Tasmania.

Encouraging a healthy and sustainable mode of transport

The strategy recognised that the promotion of alternative modes of travel to the private vehicle will provide the Devonport community with the opportunity to embrace the principles of sustainable transport. The benefits include improved health and fitness, improved road safety and individual and community-wide economic benefit.

The 2010-2013 strategy was reviewed in 2015 as part of Council’s Strategic Plan 2009-2030. The reviewed strategy became the Bike Riding Strategy 2015-2020. The renamed strategy was to change the focus to the desires of riders and would-be riders to have safe, accessible and well-connected bike routes. The revised 2015-2020 strategy intent therefore was on making bike riding more accessible and safer for everyone through promotion, community education and by providing a well-maintained network of bike lanes and paths.

The benefits of the strategy include improved health for all.

The 2010-2013 Devonport City Cycling Network Strategy was based on and followed the February 2010 draft Masterplan for Cycleways that was released for community consultation and concurrent bike user survey. The survey sought information on cycling activity including:

Favourite cycling routes
Facilities that could be provided
Routes that needed improvement
Areas considered unsafe to ride.

The strategy recognised the limited coverage, lack of access to destinations and lack of associated facilities for the existing bicycle network including:

No cycle link between East Devonport and the CBD
A lack of on-road cycling facilities within the CBD
No cycling facilities to connect to regional areas.

The Devonport City Cycling Network Strategy is increasing the opportunity for independent travel.

One aspect of the survey was to confirm that recreational cycling was the stronger activity in terms of participation and this was consistent with the location of the existing dedicated bicycle network mostly on the coast and primarily comprising segments of Devonport’s Great Foreshore Ride. The strategy aimed to significantly increase the proportion of commuter cycling as part of increasing the utility of riding to local destinations.

Cycling offers opportunities to join with others in social, utilitarian and competitive journeys.

The strategy built on the attributes of Devonport’s streets being relatively wide and in many cases with low traffic volumes. The attributes allowed the strategy to add cycle links by introducing on-road facilities. Overall the strategy targeted the range of potential cycling facilities comprising on-road bike lanes, off-road paths, riding on footpaths and exploring the use of the rail corridor.

The 2010-2013 and 2015-2020 strategies recognised the need to be comprehensive in providing supporting amenities including shelter, storage and signage for cyclists and end of trip facilities such as secure and accessible bicycle parking provided at appropriate destinations within the city and at shopping centres.

Implementation of the two strategies has resulted in the completion of key links in the network and the provision of bike racks in key locations.

Project Team

Devonport City Council

Project Cost

2010-2013 Cycling Network Strategy: $1 Million
2015-2020 Bike Riding Strategy: $5 Million

Gallery

- The Devonport City Cycling Network Strategy offers health value through providing a safer and comprehensive route network to encourage cycling for commuting as well as recreational travel.
- The strategy has guided continuity of projects to extend the bicycle infrastructure making the utility and safety of riding attractive with the attendant health benefits.
- The Devonport City Cycling Network Strategy offers economic value for the community through maximising the use of existing infrastructure including the wide streets for on-road lanes and recognising the extensive network of footpaths as shared walking and cycling facilities.
- The personal economic benefits include savings from having viable and safe alternative modes of travel to the private car.
- The strategy for bike infrastructure allowed Council to successfully compete for government funding.
- The Devonport City Cycling Network Strategy offers environmental value through promoting and facilitating sustainable travel.
- An element of the strategy, the upgrade of the Great Foreshore Ride between Victoria Parade and Mersey Bluff, allowed for the realignment of sections of the pathway to protect the natural assets of the shoreline and coastal vegetation.
- Future lighting of the path will be in consideration of sustainability and energy efficiency in public lighting consistent with Council’s Public Lighting Strategy.
- The inclusion of recycled materials in the pavement and embankment fill as well as recycled plastic in the pathway signage added environmental value to the project.
- The Devonport City Cycling Network Strategy offers social value that comes from increasing the opportunity for independent travel for a wide cross section of the community who are, otherwise, dependent on car travel.
- Cycling offers opportunities to join with others in social, utilitarian and competitive journeys.
- The updated 2015 strategy focused on the desires of riders and would-be riders to have safe, accessible and well-connected bike routes. As part of the review process, the strategy was renamed the Bike Riding Strategy 2015-2020 to reflect the revised focus to a broader cycling community.
- The strategies have offered use value through making available streets and paths to access destinations for a wider range of travel modes and users. The projects identified in the strategies emphasised improved safety. This was in response to surveys that confirmed that safety was a major impediment to increasing the number of trips by bicycle.
- Consistent with the strategies, use value was the focus for the upgrade of the Great Foreshore Ride between Victoria Parade and Mersey Bluff. The path upgrade included increasing the overall width of the path to three metres (previously less than two metres) to provide a safe and suitably wide asphalt path for all users.
- The path upgrading also involved the laying of conduit to allow for future lighting to extend the use value of the path.
- Devonport’s Great Foreshore Ride
- Devonport City Council Bike Riding Strategy 2015-2020

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