Veloway 1 (V1) Cycleway, O'Keefe Street, construct cycle bridge and approaches

Several crossings on Veloway 1 have been identified as opportunities to improve network connectivity and user safety. The O'Keefe Street crossing has been prioritised, as the current alignment is indirect and includes intersections without traffic signals.

Construction of the velobridge will allow bike riders to stay on the Veloway 1, instead of crossing at Carl Street and the lights both east and west of the Pacific Motorway on O'Keefe Street.

The velobridge will benefit bike riders and motorists by reducing pauses in traffic flow that currently occur when bike riders cross these streets.

Community consultation

Community engagement took place in May 2021. Consultation included meetings with elected representatives, active transport groups and community information sessions.

Key feedback themes

The key recurring themes identified in the community feedback were:

• In favour of the project—the majority of feedback was in support of the project and many believed it would improve bike rider safety and connectivity in the area.
• Opposition to removal of the northern access ramp—a key issue that was identified was opposition to the proposed removal of the existing access ramp on the northern side of O'Keefe Street. Several stakeholders requested for this to be retained and believed that removing the ramp would result in bike riders doing additional road crossings and subsequent safety concerns.
• Design features—several stakeholders asked about various design features such as the gradient, path width and so on.
• Other suggested improvements to the network outside the project scope—some stakeholders used the consultation period to express ideas and suggestions for other improvements outside this project's scope, such as additional enhancements to the veloway in other suburbs and requests for more improvements to pedestrian provisions.

We amended the final project design to include the northern access ramp. Including this ramp addresses community and stakeholder feedback to retain bike rider access to local amenities and addresses subsequent safety concerns around road crossings that would be required without the ramp.