Design manual for cycling updated

Overview

Action 1.13: Review Technical Note 128, Selection and Design of Cycle Tracks, to improve cycling design guidance, including dimensions and warrants, for inclusion in future updates of the Road Planning and Design Manual.

Lead agency: Department of Transport and Main Roads

Status: Complete

Achievements

Needing to share busy urban roads with motor vehicles is a major deterrent for people considering cycling as a viable mode choice. 69% of males and 74% of females state they would be confident to cycle more regularly if separated facilities such as cycle tracks were provided.

We have updated Technical Note 128 to provide more guidance on where and how to separate bicycle traffic from motorists in urban areas, based on current Australian and Queensland case studies.

The update concentrated on:

• incorporating lessons learnt from cycle tracks constructed across Queensland and latest best practice
• adding retrofit examples to words and drawings to illustrate how cycle tracks can be incorporated into brownfield sites at varying road widths
• removing international photo examples and replacing with Australian examples where available
• restructuring and editing guidance to specifically focus on cycle tracks
• incorporating additional explanation of protected intersections including additional detail around signal phasing
• introducing the Level of Traffic Stress concept
• specifying applicable sections of RPDM, TRUM or Austroads guidelines to aid content integration into core technical guidance.

These changes are intended to assist designers and engineers to deliver facilities that ensure people of all ages and abilities can safely use our transport network.

Next steps

We will incorporate references to the update of Technical Note 128 to the Road Planning Design Manual supplements to Austroads Guide to Road Design.