31 July 2023
By James Mullan
Stage 1 of the West Street cycleway has officially opened providing a start to the soon to be connected route between Cammeray and North Sydney. The 100m track runs between Ridge St and the Pacific Highway, along the back of the Union Hotel and North Sydney Police Station.
The project came to life after being identified as a key location in a 2014 report of cycling. According to head of cycling group Bike North; Carolyn New it is the first North to South cycleway that has been built in the LGA for 15 years.
Construction was made possible by shared funding from North Sydney Council and the NSW Government. NSW Transport Minister Jo Haylen said the“The project will make it easier for people to walk and cycle, giving everyone the option to leave the car at home and enjoy the fresh air as they wander through this beautiful part of Sydney. I’m pleased the NSW Government has been able to contribute $800k to get this project completed.” Council is contributing $50,000.
At the opening of the lane, North Sydney Mayor Zoe Baker said “Council is pleased to finally have finished this section of the West St Cycleway which will ensure cyclists of all ages and abilities are kept safe on their journeys to and from work, school or other activities. The completion of Stage 1 marks the beginning of Council
addressing the ‘missing link’ to connect North Sydney with Willoughby and beyond.”
Baker added that cyclists collectively make more than 400 trips along West Street each weekday, believing the cycleway will only help to increase that number.
Bike North’s New told the Sun that this project has been decades in the making, wanting an upgrade from the existing shoulder lanes, which by comparison are more dangerous.
New said West St used to be more quiet from a traffic perspective due to factors like an increase in school numbers.
“It’s gotta be separated now. It would’ve been fine with the levels of traffic we had decades ago, but not now.” She explained West St is an important cycling road as it runs parallel to the much busier Miller St and Pacific Highway plus it is an intersection of several preexisting bike routes. This includes Ridge St which connects to Neutral Bay and Mosman to the east then Waverton and Wollstonecraft to the west, then looking north up to Cammeray onto the M1 cycleway that takes cyclists as far as Epping via Lane Cove. Speaking about North-South cycling connections, New said “There is not one piece of (cycling) infrastructure between here and the Harbour Bridge that has gone in 15 years.”
The next stage of the West Street cycleway is currently in the works and will be considerably longer than stage 1. It will connect North Sydney and Cammeray, between Ridge Street and Amhurst Street.