Austroads design guide for Walking and Cycling (AGRD06A)

Austroads has produced many good and useful standards. One of the best is Guide to Road Design Part 6A: Paths for Walking and Cycling (AGRD06A). The ACT Active Travel Standards (MIS05) are compliment by the Austroads AGRD06A. The Austroads National Standard is more detailed than the ACT equivalent and complements the local standard.

Molonglo 3 to Belconnen: which route?

The Molonglo 3 East Future Urban Area will open up new ways to ride to Belconnen from south to north around 2030-2035. Austroads recommends gradients below 5% for comfortable riding. Direct routes are otherwise preferred. What route options does Molonglo 3 East provide? We consider routes from John Gorton Drive Bridge to Kippax Group Centre and Belconnen Town Centre.

VicRoads: widths of off-road shared use paths

VicRoads Cycle Notes 21 (August 2013) has advice on the widths of off-road shared use paths. It is not the most recent. Austroads Guide to Road Design Part 6A: Paths for Walking and Cycling (AGRD06A) and the Netherlands CROW publication are more recent. Still, it is worth noting that even back in 2013 VicRoads were aware of what we in Canberra need and still do not have.

Section 5: Active travel

A brief introduction of active travel at a non-technical level. This submission is not about the technical aspects of active travel, which is well documented in the ACT Active Travel Key Documents. Combined with Austroads Standards there is enough there to build a good network. We are not failing because of a lack of standards. Rather the problem lies elsewhere.

Coding safety into urban design

Active travel will only work if they feel it is safe to be on the streets, particularly when it is dark and/or we are alone. It is important, for many reasons, that we create cities where we feel comfortable. Active travel certainly depends on it.

Estate Development Code

This is the first of a series of articles on ACT building codes. The character and liveability of our city is a product of these codes. Here is a brief introduction to Estate Development Code and why it needs to be revised.

Overview of Active Travel Key Documents

Active travel is not in one document but many. This makes it confusing to know where to find something. The ACT Government has a system and understanding it helps locate the key documents.

Gradients in Molonglo 3: cycling from John Gorton Drive Bridge

Bicycles are arguably the most efficient machine ever invented, however, everything has its limits. A 30m section of steep path is all that is required to bring a cyclist to a stop. Pushing a bike up steep paths is not popular amongst cyclists. Better is to build the paths so that they are never so steep to become unrideable. Austroads Standards tell us how. Hilly terrain requires careful route and path design.

Section 5.3 Cycle highways

The idea of “cycle highway” needs to be located within the Active Travel Framework, so that it is not disconnected from the planning mechanism in the ACT.

Cycle highways: Planning for Active Travel in the ACT

The relevant text for cycle highways is scattered throughout a number of key documents. Here, the relevant extracts from Planning for Active Travel in the ACT (PATACT) are gathered together in one place.