The Shrine to Sea project is starting consultation on their (much downgraded) masterplan, with the bike lane removed.

Also, this Wednesday, the Port Phillip Council is deciding on what their position will be. They have identified 3 options: 1. advocating for no bike lane, 2. advocating for the protected bike lane, or 3. advocating for a bike path in the median strip. The report before council clearly lays out that Option 1 does not address the significant safety issues already existing on the corridor, and Option 3 will lead to more substantial traffic disruptions. On the other hand, Option 2 is consistent with achieving a more sustainable city, with liveable streets for everyone to enjoy.

Despite the clear path forward here, I expect some Councillors to continue to amplify the scare campaign run by a small number of residents.

Please come to Council this Wednesday 16th August (either in person or online) to make a short statement about how the bike lane would be good for you. To do this, fill in the Request to Speak form by 4pm Wednesday, for agenda item 10.1. If you don't feel comfortable speaking, your presence in support would be wonderful. The meeting is at St Kilda Town Hall, 6.30pm. Public comment is at the beginning, so you should be finished by 7.30pm.

And if not, you can write to your local councillors--- email addresses are here.

Separate to Council, the Vic Government is consulting on their draft masterplan (the one that had the bike lanes removed). To ask for their reinstatement— please fill in the survey at https://engage.vic.gov.au/shrinetosea.

Update: the outcome of the August council meeting was that the Council decided not to support the protected bike lane on Kerferd Rd. Voting for this were Cunsolo, Clarke, Sirakoff, Bond, Pearl. Supporting the protected bike lane were Baxter, Nyaguy, Martin, Crawford.

In May, the Shrine to Sea project announced that they were separating the protected bike lane from the project:

In reviewing the draft masterplan, the Victorian Government considered a number of issues, including the Department of Transport and Planning’s decision to remove temporary Pop-Up Bike Lanes from the City of Port Phillip, and decided that further targeted engagement is required for a safer active transport solution along Kerferd Road. For this reason, the protected bike lane is being separated from the Shrine to Sea masterplan to be considered at a future time.

Recall that the community consultation panel recommended the separated bike lane, and the objectives of this project were to:

Enhance the green boulevard
Create safer and clearer links and connections for walking and cycling
Celebrate local stories
Improve usable open space

In June, the Port Phillip Bicycle Users Group met with the project team to find out more about this decision and the way forward. These are our questions and the answers.

What happens next?

The draft plan will be released for public comment as soon as possible. It will not include the separated bike lane.

How can the separated bike path be built?

There will be a targeted "robust engagement process" around the bike lane at a future time and the State government is currently discussing the pathway forward. The design proposals included in the draft plan have been carefully considered to make sure they don’t restrict future options that could be included in the engagement process. The $13M budget was never intended to cover all the masterplan costs. It will help deliver many elements in the plan but there will be a need for additional funds. This is also partly due to the increase in costs since the start of the project.

Usability of footpaths and use of the footpaths by scooters/bikes are key concerns of pedestrians, particularly disabled users (per Vision Australia) and older people (per Victoria Walks). Pedestrians currently have difficulty crossing Kerferd Rd. How are these concerns being addressed under the revised plans?

The masterplan can’t address use of existing street footpaths as these are matters for the Council or relevant land managers. Nonetheless accessibility and safety principles are key to the designs in the draft. The proposed protected bike lane design did include improved accessibility solutions and safer crossings on Kerferd Road, and this will now be dealt with in the future engagement process.

What happens to the design work undertaken on the 5 options for the bike lane that S2S has done, including the Healthy Streets assessment, the Shrine to Sea metric criteria assessment, community feedback, and traffic modelling--- will this be released?

Reports and assessments completed for the 5 options, including all the renders, plans etc will be passed on to the next state government project team that gets the responsibility for progressing this. DEECA had intended to release the reports with the draft masterplan when it included the protected bike lane, but these will now form part of the next engagement process. The state government wants to make sure there is an engagement process in place for this as some of this material is technical and requires support in explaining or interpreting the information.

Current plans are to re-open the Herbert St crossover when the S2S plan is complete. This is one of the identified high crash locations. Will this stay closed or re-open?

The proposed design solution for the Herbert Road crossover will be in the draft plan so everyone will be able to provide feedback at that time. DEECA has worked with Council closely on the design proposal.

What will the "robust engagement" process be?

There will be a targeted engagement process, with opportunity for some mythbusting and shared information. More info about car parking, bins, traffic flows. The precise nature of the engagement is not yet known.

Update: Kerferd Rd bike lane August 2023

Update on Shrine to Sea project, July 2023