Council Genius Moves - Bikeways

[open roader]

I occasionally catch up reading this thread from time.

Common theme from all my catch ups is wondering exactly just how did we as homo sapiens become the dominant species on this planet?

[Mr Purple]

I occasionally catch up reading this thread from time.

Common theme from all my catch ups is wondering exactly just how did we as homo sapiens become the dominant species on this planet?

I don't know.

Another council genius move today - army fun run (5km/10km) and they must have got permission to close the entire Goodwill Bridge. Now I have no issues with the organisers - I'd much rather them get permission to close the entire bridge than close half of it but use all of it anyway.

However whoever gave them permission to close both Southbank in general to bikes and Grey Street as well needs to be shot.

This led to absolutely no safe way to get from the Southside to the Bicentennial Bikeway. I'm a confident cyclist but ended up having to backtrack to Cordelia Street which is a high speed three lane major road with absolutely no shoulder and no bikeway, with a decent climb in it as well.

I'd imagine there were plenty of riders today who just gave up and went home. Anyone at Brisbane council who looked at the plans for the road closures and thought 'hey, this is fine' needs to ride a bike down Cordelia Street. It's one thing to close Goodwill Bridge for an event, it's another to close every single safe route around Goodwill Bridge at the same time.

[g-boaf]

However whoever gave them permission to close both Southbank in general to bikes and Grey Street as well needs to be shot.

This led to absolutely no safe way to get from the Southside to the Bicentennial Bikeway. I'm a confident cyclist but ended up having to backtrack to Cordelia Street which is a high speed three lane major road with absolutely no shoulder and no bikeway, with a decent climb in it as well.

I'd imagine there were plenty of riders today who just gave up and went home. Anyone at Brisbane council who looked at the plans for the road closures and thought 'hey, this is fine' needs to ride a bike down Cordelia Street. It's one thing to close Goodwill Bridge for an event, it's another to close every single safe route around Goodwill Bridge at the same time.

They probably thought that you shouldn't ride a bike anyway - or just go ride around the local park and stop playing silly games on roads that are only for motor vehicles.

Okay, I'm being cynical but nothing would surprise me, particularly if some anti-cycling person gets in a position of power.

[Mr Purple]

This one may not be the council's fault - but they'll be the ones sorting it out.

Some genius has blocked the bikeways completely going both ways on Sylvan Road by putting a mobile sign telling motorists their parking location has changed.



Apparently it is a private business, last I heard is that they'd been fined for illegal parking. This is not good enough, both signs were still there this morning, parked in clearways. It is a very busy bike lane with notoriously aggressive motorists and the arrogance of this move is astounding. Logically you think there would be an immediate towing and hundreds of thousands in fines for anyone doing this, what's to bet they stay there for weeks with no consequences.

I've reported them again and reminded the council that consequences from this sort of behaviour include fatalities.

[Mr Purple]

To give council their merit, both signs are now gone. Less than 24 hours.

Hopefully someone gets a 'please explain' meeting at some level somewhere.

[jasonc]

To give council their merit, both signs are now gone. Less than 24 hours.

Hopefully someone gets a 'please explain' meeting at some level somewhere.

excellent

[Mr Purple]

So as follow-up for this they're gone, which is the main thing.

However I missed a call from a lady at council today where she left the following message including these points:
- Snap-Send-Solve was apparently the wrong way to report it and I should have called because it was so dangerous.
- I didn't state the time of day the photo was taken and it was technically only a clear lane between 4 and 7PM (never mind that a yellow line indicates it is illegal to park in at any time).
- As above, technically it doesn't actually constitute a 'bike lane' except between 4 and 7pm.
- As a result the operator wouldn't face any consequences.

Absolutely pathetic. Half tempted to make a complaint about the feedback from council.

[jasonc]

And then they wonder why we won't use their poor excuse for bike lanes

[blizzard]

Finally! The O'Keefe St overpass is open.

[elantra]

Finally! The O'Keefe St overpass is open.

Awesome.
As some famous bloke called Armstrong once said..

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”

Correct me if I’m wrong but it’s been several years in the making has it not ?
Presumably conceived back in the day when only bicycles moved faster than runners and walkers on council pathways !

[Mr Purple]

Finally! The O'Keefe St overpass is open.

That took forever but I'm thankful as I now never need to ride over 'no, we won't give way while turning into a side street' Karl Street ever again.

Speaking of infrastructure failure, I did a Redcliffe return ride on Sunday. It's actually an excellent bikeway though the ride was ruined somewhat by the charity walk that insisted on taking up its entire 4-5m wide span for a fair few kilometres.

The thing I did notice though is that despite having regular well designed shelters with seating every 5-10km literally none of them have taps or bins. In fact, I was keeping an eye out, and I didn't actually see any taps or bubblers to fill a water bottle from between Redcliffe and Kalinga - which is some 30km. Even the Nundah crit circuit only has a hand washing tap at the toilets, which I wouldn't particular feel up to drinking.

Seems like a pretty massive oversight.

[jules21]

Absolutely pathetic. Half tempted to make a complaint about the feedback from council.

you should. that isn't some wild idea. they will probably value knowing how crazy their employees are with that type of response.

[jules21]

I just noticed it's BCC. you should complain regardless.

[blizzard]

Speaking of infrastructure failure, I did a Redcliffe return ride on Sunday. It's actually an excellent bikeway though the ride was ruined somewhat by the charity walk that insisted on taking up its entire 4-5m wide span for a fair few kilometres.

The thing I did notice though is that despite having regular well designed shelters with seating every 5-10km literally none of them have taps or bins. In fact, I was keeping an eye out, and I didn't actually see any taps or bubblers to fill a water bottle from between Redcliffe and Kalinga - which is some 30km. Even the Nundah crit circuit only has a hand washing tap at the toilets, which I wouldn't particular feel up to drinking.

Seems like a pretty massive oversight.

I've noticed the shelters but can't say I ever looked for bins / taps on them.

The worst part of the ride to Redcliffe is the underpass under the Ted Smout bridge. It gets flooded at high tide and then leaves slime on the surface, I have only ridden it and few times but have seen multiple people slide out.

[jules21]

Nundah has a water tap at the 'grandstand'

[Mr Purple]

Absolutely pathetic. Half tempted to make a complaint about the feedback from council.

you should. that isn't some wild idea. they will probably value knowing how crazy their employees are with that type of response.

Unfortunately I was so annoyed I deleted the response. Chris Cox (Brisbane cycling Youtuber) actually reached out to me afterwards and was going to feature the contents of the reply in a video without identifying the caller, given it was that bad. It was appalling and pointedly anti-cyclist. I'll definitely report anything similar just to see what sort of feedback I get.

I checked the Nundah 'grandstand' and couldn't find a tap there, though I was 80km in and pretty fried by that stage! I'm astounded no-one really thought of 'water' as an essential component of a long and sun exposed bikeway.

The worst bit I found on that bikeway was the Depot Road Crossing. Two street crossing with 'beg buttons' that don't actually work. I hit it as soon as I got there, and failed to get any green crossing lights for the next sequence which led to a good 5-7 minutes before finally giving up and shaming cyclist anywhere before running the red pedestrian crossing light.

The Logan Road crossing on the V1 veloway is the same - I'm close to 90% sure the buttons don't actually work and you either run the red (with no cars in sight, obviously) or you'll sit there all day.

[jules21]

Unfortunately I was so annoyed I deleted the response. Chris Cox (Brisbane cycling Youtuber) actually reached out to me afterwards and was going to feature the contents of the reply in a video without identifying the caller, given it was that bad. It was appalling and pointedly anti-cyclist. I'll definitely report anything similar just to see what sort of feedback I get.

What a shame! I would have enjoyed that.

I checked the Nundah 'grandstand' and couldn't find a tap there, though I was 80km in and pretty fried by that stage! I'm astounded no-one really thought of 'water' as an essential component of a long and sun exposed bikeway.

There's water there. Right next to the stand on the straight. Not the clubhouse

IThe worst bit I found on that bikeway was the Depot Road Crossing. Two street crossing with 'beg buttons' that don't actually work. I hit it as soon as I got there, and failed to get any green crossing lights for the next sequence which led to a good 5-7 minutes before finally giving up and shaming cyclist anywhere before running the red pedestrian crossing light.

If you mean the crossing at Deagon, there's an underpass 200m to the west. You don't need to use the crossing.

[Mr Purple]

If you mean the crossing at Deagon, there's an underpass 200m to the west. You don't need to use the crossing.

Ah yeah, you're right (though I had to find it on google maps).

I assumed because someone queued behind me it was the only way over. But he may have just been lost too!

[Mr Purple]

Finally! The O'Keefe St overpass is open.

New bridge is fantastic and makes a huge difference to the ride to the city along the veloway. I am wondering if they're adding a centre marking at some stage though - the archetypal e-scooter rider had a good tilt at taking me out riding on the wrong side yesterday.

Even better is the local mouthbreathing car community going off about the expense of it when there's still only a ferry at Moggill apparently. As if f the two have any relationship at all, and as if the residents of Moggill have long since decided they don't want their suburb used as a rat run anyway.

[blizzard]

Finally! The O'Keefe St overpass is open.

New bridge is fantastic and makes a huge difference to the ride to the city along the veloway. I am wondering if they're adding a centre marking at some stage though - the archetypal e-scooter rider had a good tilt at taking me out riding on the wrong side yesterday.

Even better is the local mouthbreathing car community going off about the expense of it when there's still only a ferry at Moggill apparently. As if f the two have any relationship at all, and as if the residents of Moggill have long since decided they don't want their suburb used as a rat run anyway.

It is really good, and even better they just announced that the missing bridge at Birdwood Rd has been funded in the budget and construction to start in FY2025.

Yes the infrastructure is expensive but the money isn't just going into the physical concrete, lots of the cost is getting returned to the community in wages. The motorists also benefit as they don't have to wait at the lights at O'Keefe as much for cyclists crossing.

[elantra]

Finally! The O'Keefe St overpass is open.

New bridge is fantastic and makes a huge difference to the ride to the city along the veloway. I am wondering if they're adding a centre marking at some stage though - the archetypal e-scooter rider had a good tilt at taking me out riding on the wrong side yesterday.

Even better is the local mouthbreathing car community going off about the expense of it when there's still only a ferry at Moggill apparently. As if f the two have any relationship at all, and as if the residents of Moggill have long since decided they don't want their suburb used as a rat run anyway.

This “mouthbreathing car community” probably feed off the same fasebook drivel as the muppets who oppose the extension of the Northern Rivers Railtrail because they believe posts that say the return of the long-lost Choo-Choo train is possible.
They couldn’t separate fact from fiction if it slapped them in the face.

About the Moggil bridge you might as well tell them that they’re dreaming.
40 years ago none other than Big Russ Hinze himself wanted his department to build a bridge over the river there to replace the Moggil Ferry.

Russ Hinze was a big man who was used to getting his way but even then there were enough influential people living on the north side of the river at Moggil (and Pullenvale) and he was defeated on that plan.
Russ got his way on all sorts of other major infrastructure projects in the 70’s and 80’s but the proposed bridge over the river at Moggil was, well … a bridge too far !

[Mr Purple]

Road kills koalas. Road kills cyclists. Bike path around road blocked to save koalas.

Apparently you shouldn't post this to the internet because you are then accused of hating koalas.

[blizzard]

Ehh that doesn't bother me, koala proofing a fence doesn't make sense if there is a big hole in it to let cyclists through. Happy enough to stop and open it, it would be a different story if it was the V1 or Jim Soorley Bikeway.

[Mr Purple]

I don’t really understand the positioning of the fence - it seems to be protecting suburbia from Boundary Road at that point.

Would have been more sensible to have the bikeway actually closer to the road but I’d say that boat is long since sailed.

[elantra]

I don’t really understand the positioning of the fence - it seems to be protecting suburbia from Boundary Road at that point.

Would have been more sensible to have the bikeway actually closer to the road but I’d say that boat is long since sailed.

Government these days is all about creating a favourable image, not solving problems.

They want to give the impression that they care about the Koala population in that corner of Brisbane.

The truth is that the relentless process of suburban life with cars, more cars, trucks, courier drivers, Uber drivers, dogs, and environmental loss etc is well beyond their powers to meaningfully control.

As far as I know there are no Koalas in other naturally-vegetated suburbs of Brisbane, and never have been.
Queensland Koalas are quite particular about where they live. The notable koala populations in Qld are mostly in locations very close to the sea, such as Burleigh Heads, Noosa National Park and Magnetic Island.
So you will never see a Koala in the forests around Mt Coottha.

I would guess that the BCC identified that the path along the boundary of Whites Hill Reserve could be “upgraded” to bicycle route status without too much trouble, and then decided that not enough people would be offended by their “koala-protecting” window dressing with gates etc.

One of the problems with having koala-specific eucalyptus trees in urban areas is that this type of tree is actually dangerous to humans - these trees are notorious for dropping big limbs with sometimes devastating consequences.
Some experts would say that there are many better types of trees to have in urban areas.
As they say - the inconvenient truth.