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North Brisbane Bikeway—Stages 1 to 4

North Brisbane Bikeway—Stages 1 to 4

The North Brisbane Bikeway is a major new bike riding corridor for greater Brisbane, connecting Brisbane CBD to Chermside. It addresses a significant gap in bike-riding infrastructure through the northern suburbs of Brisbane.

We delivered the sections of the bikeway between Herston and Wooloowin in 4 stages:

Stage 1 (connecting Herston to Windsor) was completed in 2016.
Stages 2 and 3 (connecting Windsor to Wooloowin) were completed in February 2020
Stage 4 (connecting Rigby Street to Price Street, Wooloowin) was completed in January 2021.

We used innovative design approaches to deliver a safe off-road connection through a densely populated corridor.

Photo caption: Bike riders and pedestrians using the separated cycle track and footpath near Windsor Park, McDonald Road

Future stages of the North Brisbane Bikeway connecting Price Street, Wooloowin to Chermside will be delivered by Brisbane City Council in partnership with the Queensland Government.

Key facts

7.5km of continuous bike riding and walking infrastructure from Wooloowin to the Brisbane CBD.
Features 4.5km of safe separated cycle track and footpath, incorporating priority pedestrian and bike crossings at several intersections.
The Queensland Government committed $32.11 million for Stages 1 to 4.

Benefits and insights

The North Brisbane Bikeway has improved safety, comfort and amenity by providing pedestrians, bike riders and motorists with separate facilities through this busy northern Brisbane corridor.

In May 2023, we conducted an evaluation by using count and survey data from pedestrians, bike riders and other users (e.g., scooter riders) travelling on Stages 2 and 3 to understand why they used the bikeway. We complemented this with video observations to further analyse the travel behaviour of bikeway users.

The key findings include:

Pedestrian demand has approximately doubled since February 2019, and bike rider demand nearly tripled since October 2016.
Prior to construction, 90% of bike riders preferred riding on road along McDonald Street over the shared path. After the bikeway construction, less than 1% chose to ride on road.
69% of bike riders and 61% of pedestrians indicated they felt much more comfortable travelling the route after the bikeway's construction.
The bikeway has enticed more people to choose active transport, with 22% of bike riders opting to ride where they would otherwise have used public transport.
Bike riders and pedestrians overwhelming felt comfortable using the priority crossings. Almost all interactions (97%) were assessed as requiring only minor adjustments by either road user.
No police-recorded crashes involving bike riders or pedestrians were recorded on the corridor in the two years post construction.
The bikeway has likely mitigated many of the risks associated with the 12 crashes involving bike riders that occurred pre-construction. At least nine of the 12 crashes are likely to have been entirely avoided with the bikeway in place.

Design innovations and challenges

Retrofitting a separated cycle track into an inner urban setting involved a range of innovations and challenges. The main innovation was the inclusion of several raised priority pedestrian and bike crossings at side roads.

Aerial view of raised priority crossing on Somerset Street, with truck stopped at intersection giving way to 2 bike riders using the path
Photo caption: Truck giving way to bike riders using the raised priority crossing on Somerset Street

A raised priority crossing is the continuation of a path across a road where people on the path have priority over vehicles using the road. The facility is designed to optimise the safety of path users by reducing vehicle speeds and making it easier to see people crossing the road. The crossings include raised platforms, coloured markings and signs reinforcing who has priority.

They operate like a pedestrian zebra crossing, giving the people riding and walking priority over motor vehicles at the side road crossings—riders and walkers are provided the same continuous priority as motorists on the nearby primary through road. The raised priority crossings on the North Brisbane Bikeway have been independently evaluated and found to be working well as designed.

Take a journey along the North Brisbane Bikeway and hear from bikeway users about how the raised priority crossings improve safety and comfort.

Show/hide transcript ( /Travel-and-transport/Cycling/Infrastructure-projects/North-Brisbane-Bikeway#video1 )

Video transcript

The North Brisbane Bikeway is ideal for everyone. It consists of seven and a half kilometres of continuous off-road cycling facility, including four and half kilometres separated between pedestrians and cyclists.

It's been specifically designed to suit people of all ages and abilities. It gives you a direct link into the city. So if you're a commuter and want to ride your bike, your e-bike or a scooter all the way to the city, you can do that.

It's also great for people on weekends just going for family roll together on the bike or on the scooter and so forth. It can take you into Roma Street Parklands, great for the kids and families to get out there.

Yeah, that's one of the things that really struck me—people who haven't been on it probably don't realise just what a pleasant ride it is and there's parks you can stop at on the way. It's actually, for the fact that it runs through a fairly built-up urban area, there's actually lovely green parts of it along the way.

It's such a family friendly environment. My husband also commutes on it. So we've got the kids, we've got commuting.

It joins a number of other projects we've got around the state including the Veloway 1 and the Bicentennial Bikeway that are all designed to get more people riding and more people walking more often throughout Queensland.

Raised priority crossings were installed at several intersections to make the bikeway as safe and accessible for as many people as possible, including our most vulnerable road users like people walking with prams or using mobility devices.

They're great. The cars stop and they're quite comfortable riding across. They've made a difference the whole way along.

It's super-safe with the division between, you know, with the walking and the cycling. It segregates obviously the speed groups which is really important when you're walking with little kids.

People feel safer, they feel more confident in riding. Whereas in the past they might not have considered riding along Dickson Street or Bridge Street because it was too dangerous, they now feel completely safe. And the fact they can get all the way into the city without, essentially without riding on any roads, is really encouraging for people to take up cycling. Over time, the network will progressively get built as roads are upgraded, we'll see more and more of this kind of facility roll out across the network.

View the video fullscreen on YouTube

We worked closely with Brisbane City Council to resolve other design challenges, including establishing a short section of one-way street outside Albion Station. This made room for the new bikeway as well as retaining resident parking.

Photo caption: Completed sections of the North Brisbane Bikeway Stages 2 and 3

Community engagement

We undertook significant community consultation during development of the bikeway, including:

stakeholder and bike riding group briefings
regular updates to surrounding households and businesses
flyers and maps along the proposed route.

Feedback from the consultation was overwhelmingly positive and people supported progressing the bikeway further north.

We also engaged closely with local Bicycle User Groups (BUGs) throughout the project design. These BUGs were some of the project's most vocal supporters and advocated for the project throughout design and construction.

Alignment of the North Brisbane Bikeway—Stages 1 to 4

More information

Email the Cycling and Walking team – [email protected].

Last updated 5 August 2024