Finally, the Sturt Street path proceeds

The bike path down the centre of Sturt Street is in many ways the crown jewel of Ballarat's future cycling network. It will act as the spine of the network, connecting several suburban routes with a large percentage of Ballarat's workplaces, retail and hospitality - but by travelling along the Sturt Street gardens it will also be probably the most beautiful ride in Ballarat. Despite a lot of controversy fomented by people lying about the impact it would have on the heritage of the gardens, Regional Roads Victoria have stuck with the project and delivered the final designs for their section on Friday.

The view down Sturt Street

The section controlled by VicRoads/RRV runs from Pleasant Street to Dawson Street, and was previously proposed to have a path down the centre of the median, weaving around trees and statues as required - but the final version sees the path travelling along the southern edge. Rather than just using the existing dirt path, as some anti-cyclist commentators have proposed, this will mean a sealed path for the entire length, coloured sensitively to match the existing aesthetic, and with a significant grassed median between the cyclists and the cars.

As much as I would have preferred the path go down the centre - it would have had unparalleled safety, and I think be a lot more pleasant to be further from the cars and more surrounded by greenery - I think this is a perfectly good outcome. The grassed median seems wide enough to keep people safe, and to make them feel safe - which is what we need if we want to encourage more people onto their bikes. And the experience of riding alongside the gardens and the monuments will still be very pleasant for locals, and still act as a nice tourist drawcard. Given how politically toxic the whole thing became, and how easy it would have been for the politicians to just dump it entirely, I'm really relieved at how good the final outcome is.

It looks like there will be a nice, wide buffer from the road

Where the car crossing is controlled by traffic lights, cyclists and pedestrians will have bike/ped lights to cross the intersecting streets. Good in theory, but it's a bit disappointing that cyclists and pedestrians won't get an automatic green light when cars do - they will need to press a beg-button and wait for the lights to change. This is not only inconvenient, it's actively dangerous - because it will encourage people to just ignore the lights altogether.

People are generally pretty happy to wait for the green light when the cars adjacent to them are facing a red, and there are cars crossing directly in front of them - few pedestrians or cyclists want to run a red and dart out into traffic like that. But if you're approaching an intersection when the light is red, and you press the beg-button a half-second after the light goes green for cars, and the signals don't give you a green pedestrian light, that's hugely annoying.

It's ridiculous to expect pedestrians in that situation to wait for the whole green cycle to finish, then the whole red cycle, then walk on the next green - and indeed plenty of people do not wait that long, they just say "screw it" and walk across straight away. Which turns out fine in most cases - if people look around them and only walk when it's safe to do so - but does increase the risk of being hit by a turning vehicle that they didn't spot. Which is something VicRoads and the TAC should be designing their intersections to avoid. Generally speaking, if cars have a green light to go ahead, then cyclists should automatically get one too - it not only helps cyclists get where they need to go quickly, it's safer too.

Raised zebra crossings will allow bikes to flow freely & safely through many intersections

Where VicRoads is introducing these new double-u-turn intersections (at Talbot, Errard and Lyons Streets) the shared-use path will have raised zebra crossings. The zebra crossing aspect means that cyclists and pedestrians using the path will have legal right of way; the fact that it's raised will help ensure that they get to exercise that right in reality. It will mean cars need to slow down to go over the hump, and will mean pedestrians and cyclists will have level access across the intersection, meaning they won't need to slow down much. Making the crossing at the same level as the path either side also makes the path much more accessible for people in wheelchairs or on mobility scooters, which is a definite plus.

The section controlled by City of Ballarat, from Dawson Street to Grenville Street, was always going to use the southern edge of the median, because there's so many more statues etc in this section. The plans revealed on Friday don't show this section (this was just RRV showing their bit) but I assume that's still going ahead as planned. Which would mean a continuous path along the southern edge of the median for the whole length - nice and consistent for new riders, and for driver awareness as well.

It's been a long battle, and I do hope that RRV change their minds about the intersection signals - or that they can be reprogrammed later on - but overall I'm really happy with this outcome. The Minister is quoted as saying construction will start in April and be finished in time for summer, so let's hope this represents the start of a big cycling renaissance in Ballarat, with smaller, cheaper and less-controversial projects following soon after.