The missing cycle path along Sulwood Drive between Tuggeranong Parkway and Athllon Drive has a long history. Letters to the Minister and Roads ACT go back as far as 2003. Labor promised a path for Sulwood Drive at the 2019 Federal Election, and ACT Labor reaffirmed this at the 2020 ACT Election. Funding was included for the path in the ACT 2021-2022 Budget.
Tag Archives: Athllon Drive
Active Travel without the spin
Before the ACT Legislative Assembly on the 23 March 2022, Transport Minister Steel spoke about Active Travel. Minister Steel is very good at staying on message and can repeat that message month after month, year after year, and budget after budget. Here is the Ministerial statement 75% shorter – just 800 words – without all the marketing.
Community Path Priority List: 19 km bike paths, just $10.2 million
TCCS is the department of many lists. The Community Path Priority List is one of these lists. The ACT Government’s own Active Travel Standards (MIS05) for bike paths mandate a minimum 2.5 m path width in retrofit (replacement) and even wider for new paths. Many paths on the Community Path Priority List are not compliant as cycle infrastructure. Those that are compliant, belong to the strategic cycle infrastructure and are found here.
Athllon Drive Duplication: not for cyclists
Athllon Drive Duplication is coming but for the cyclist it is nothing to get excited about. The Athllon Drive Duplication has been welcomed by many in the south who drive to Woden or Civic. For cyclists, however, the project sadly offers little. Road duplications are about prioritising cars not bikes.
2020-21 ACT Budget: details but nothing new
The 2020-21 ACT Budget is a year late and contains little that was not made public before the 2020 ACT Election. 2020 was a special year and the budget has finally caught up. Hopefully, the budget for the year 2021-2022 will bring more investment in cycling.
Woden Valley, 1989: ahead of its time
Woden Valley was built in the 1960s. By 1989 it already had many of the bike paths we know today. It was ahead of its time. Photos from 30 years ago, that could be from yesterday.
Tuggeranong, 1989: ahead of its time
After the paddocks in the Tuggeranong Valley, came suburbs and bike paths, and what beautiful bike paths they were. Here is a collection of vintage photographs from the ACT Archive taken in 1989.
ACT Labor 2020 follow up
There was little cycling in the lengthy 2020 ACT Labor Policy Position Statement (no longer online) and most concerning was lack of specifics. ACT Labor did poorly on active travel in the 2016-2020 legislative term, however, seem to be doing better since. Minister Steel speech reaffirmed the pledges before the ACT Legislative Assembly (7 May 2022). This article compares ACT Labor’s progress on active travel between 2016-2020 and 2020-2022.
Analysis: ACT cycling investment just 1%
So much money is spent on roads. Here is a comparison of the investment in road improvement (duplications and widening) with other forms of transport. As cyclists, we are interested in bike paths, but the light rail is included, too.
Isochrone plot infrastructure study
How easy it is to get around Canberra depends upon from where you start the trip. In some places the infrastructure is better than others. One way to study this is with isochrone plots. This article compares the distance one can ride in 60 minutes and 30 minutes from various town centres, testing the ease of cycling in Canberra.
canberra.bike 