A Brisbane councillor has threatened to lock himself to construction equipment and delay the construction of the long-anticipated Woolloongabba Bikeway if a proposed extra traffic lane was not scrapped.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
At the first meeting back after a five-week recess, Greens councillor Jonathan Sri said that while he was a strong supporter of bikeway projects, he would go to extreme measures if a proposed third lane on Vulture Street was implemented.
The extra lane was listed within the works package for the construction of the Woolloongabba Bikeway project and Kangaroo Point Bikeway Project Stage 1C.
The two bikeways would connect near the Vulture Street intersection.
Brisbane City Council first announced plans for the Woolloongabba Bikeway in October 2016.
The bikeway would deliver permanent bike lanes along 1.1 kilometres of Stanley Street, between Ipswich Road in Woolloongabba and Dock Street in South Brisbane, and 1.4 kilometres along Annerley Road, between Stanley Street in Woolloongabba and Gladstone Road in Dutton Park.
Originally proposed as an $11 million project, the project had a pre-market estimate of about $8.4 million, as revealed by documents on the tendering process and awarding of the contract, but has now hit $15.3 million.
Deputy mayor Adrian Schrinner said the increased cost was to fund design changes around the M1 slip lane and to allow the work to be completed at night.
About $1.8 million of that money is listed for the “three-laning of Vulture Street”.
“Council may increase scope of works by adding a third lane on Vulture Street through the Stanley Street intersection,” the board submission on the bikeway construction said.
Cr Sri said he strongly opposed the additional lane and would do everything he could to stop it.
“If this administration is seriously considering adding an extra lane to Vulture Street I will be quite strong and firm in my opposition to it,” he said.
"[I] will be happy to spend time locking on to construction equipment, delaying the projects as much as I can, costing the contractors as much money as I possibly can and do everything I can to resist that project.”
Cr Sri has been behind several protests across the city but was adamant he got no pleasure from protesting.
“It’s really exhausting and time-consuming to have to organise protests against silly road widening projects,” he said.
“I get no pleasure from doing it, but I do it because road widening is terrible for the environment.”
On May 2, Cr Sri led a cyclist "die-in" protest to call for improved bike safety at the intersection where the extra traffic lane has now been proposed.
Cr Schrinner said a delay to any part of the construction package, which includes the Woolloongabba Bikeway and the three-laning of Vulture Street, could potentially delay the other.
He said the extra lane was part of a series of intersection upgrades in South Brisbane linked to the closure of Victoria Bridge for the Brisbane Metro project.
“Council is in the very early stages of the project and designs are yet to be finalised, but will likely involve an additional general traffic through lane at this intersection to improve traffic flow,” Cr Schrinner said
“When draft designs have been completed, both the local councillor and the community will be consulted about the upgrade.”
Cr Sri said it was bad policy to increase the capacity on other corridors in order to compensate for closing Victoria Bridge.
“Council is shooting itself in the foot if it is closing off one road and just expanding others,” he said.
“Cyclists will probably be killed if they add an extra lane there.”
Construction of the Woolloongabba Bikeway is expected to start in early 2019.
