Canberra's cycling lobby group is pushing for the government to turn three-lane Northbourne Avenue into two lanes for cars and the third for bikes.
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At the moment, it's three lanes each direction for cars with a narrow cycle lane on the edges, separated from the motor traffic by a white line.
"At the moment, there are many people who tell Pedal Power that they won't ride on Northbourne Avenue because it's far too dangerous," Pedal Power's David Whitney said.
"If we can make it a safer route for people to ride their bikes on, then that'll mean more people riding bicycles, less people in cars and on we go from there."
He didn't think reducing three car lanes to two each way would cause snarled up traffic and snarling drivers.
"Reducing from three to two is not going to be a problem," he said during the protest ride on Saturday evening.
"The idea of reducing from three lanes to two lanes encourages more people on bicycles to ride into the city.
Earlier this year, the wife of a seriously injured cyclist told The Canberra Times that a dedicated lane for bikes would have prevented her husband being hit by a car.
"Had the protected cycleway on Northbourne Avenue been built at the same time as the light rail, I would never have driven to the hospital that morning wondering if my husband was alive," Joanne Pybus said.
Her husband was lucky to survive when a car switched lanes and another car then swerved into him. The collision happened in 2022 but her husband Paul still hasn't recovered fully.
Earlier this year, a cyclist was killed, albeit not on Northbourne Avenue. The 36-year-old woman was struck by a car near the Glenloch Interchange.
Pedal Power reckoned that the main cause of injuries to cyclists on Northbourne Avenue was the "side swipe" where a car just went too close to the bike. Many of those contacts ended up with injury, invariably to the cyclist.
Many of the crashes involving cyclists were in the inner north suburbs, with concentrations along Northbourne Avenue and other areas with bike lanes.
Pedal Power's David Whitney said the government had promised a better cycling lane along the route but been slow to deliver.
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"The ACT is promoting significant investment in active travel, but projects are being rolled out too slowly. The government has promised to build a separated cycle-only path along Northbourne Avenue multiple times, yet they are still failing to deliver on this vital infrastructure," he said.
He believed the tram had increased the need for a better bike lane because the apartment block developments along the main arterial route from north Canberra meant more people were getting on bikes in the morning rather than into cars.
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Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
