A proposal to build a cycling ramp at the northern end of Sydney Harbour Bridge has been slammed as “an outright assault on North Sydney’s open space” by the local council.
Transport for NSW has developed a linear and looped design options for the cycleway ramp, which it says is necessary to serve cyclists who make around 2,000 trips across the bridge each day.
As it stands cyclists have to carry or push their bikes through safety barriers and up or down 55 steps at Bradfield Park. The department estimates that removing the bottleneck of the stairs would “more than double” capacity on the cycleway, which runs along the western edge of the bridge, helping to meet growth in cycling demand over the next 15 to 20 years.
But North Sydney councillors are staunchly against the proposal, voting unanimously at an extraordinary meeting on 7 June to spend up to $15,000 on a “grassroots” campaign opposing the ramp. The council adopted a dramatically worded mayoral minute penned by mayor Jilly Gibson that likened the ramp proposal, along with the state government’s plan to increase the number of workers and residents in the area, to a “campaign of war.”
The loop option for the Sydney Harbour Bridge cycleway northern access ramp.
“The two options on the table are wrong on many levels,” the mayor’s statement reads. “Both options have a detrimental effect on the beauty and heritage of the Harbour Bridge, an asset that belongs to all of Sydney.
“Both options cut into our open space. It’s not just the footprint of the ramps that is at issue, it is how the park will feel when the ramp is installed. The sunny, open parkland of Bradfield Park North, for example, will have an entirely different feel with massive support pillars and a cycle way stretching above it.”
For its part, Transport for NSW concedes that both the linear and looped ramps would have some effect on views and surrounding public spaces, but says the ramp is needed to improve safety and increase capacity for the only cross-harbour bike route in eastern Sydney.
The department said the while the proposed designs were still in their early development, they had been conceived in consultation with “leading urban design, architectural and heritage experts.”
The linear option for the Sydney Harbour Bridge cycleway northern access ramp.
The linear option is a gently curving ramp running above the Milsons Point Station Plaza, weaving between the palm trees at the Station Plaza and stopping short of the tree canopy in Bradfield Park North.
“The gentle curve would set the ramp back from the entrance of Milsons Point Station, reducing the view impact from Alfred Street and avoiding the need to remove trees,” a department said in a document describing the proposal.
“The linear option provides better rideability compared to the loop and is a smaller structure that has a stronger artistic form and design.
“However, the linear ramp would run over the much-loved Station Plaza, affecting views from Bradfield Park North to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and from Alfred Street to the heritage entrance of Milsons Point Station. In addition, this option would have some impact on Bradfield Park North.”
The looped option, on the other hand, would be located at the southern bowling green in Bradfield Park Central, with the double loop structure minimizing land coverage and avoiding the northern bowling green completely.
“It would be located well away from the Station Plaza and Bradfield Park North and allows for a future pedestrian connection between Burton Street and Fitzroy Street.
“However, the loop is a larger structure compared to the linear option and would be clearly visible when viewing the Sydney Harbour Bridge from the eastern side of Bradfield Park. It would require the removal of the old bowling club building and a frangipani tree on Fitzroy Street and could affect active recreation on the southern bowling green.”
Mayor Gibson said such a trade-off was not worth it, since the ramp would link to a “narrow substandard cycleway that is unfit for any real growth in commuter and recreational cycling.”
The two options are open for public feedback until June 27.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
