Shared path has benefits
Those saying that the Sutherland to Cronulla shared path is of dubious benefit need to look beyond the distance of their steering wheel.
When the train line duplication was being approved, more than 3000 signatures of Shire residents petitioning for cycling infrastructure to be built alongside were collected in a short amount of time.
Sutherland Shire Council estimates 5 per cent of local car trips will be eliminated when this infrastructure is built. For committed motorists, that means more room on the road for you.
Shire cyclists suffer a higher percentage of casualties than other areas in the Sydney region so building of this shared path will prevent injuries and loss of life.
The shared path will have a two-metre section for cycling in both directions and a 1.5-metre path for pedestrians to prevent collisions between walkers and cyclists.
Cycling trips comprise 1 per cent of NSW transport but bicycle infrastructure receives only 0.15 per cent of the transport budget.
As cycling and shared paths are far cheaper than any other mode of transport — only 1 per cent of the cost of planning and building an equivalent length of road (Queensland government stats) — we should be building as many as possible to ease congestion on our existing roads.
These projects are little more than widened footpaths, so fears about long and disruptive construction times are unfounded.
I agree with MA (Your View, June 9). Using overseas cities as a guide is helpful for fixing gridlock.
Just look at places like Copenhagen and Amsterdam where bicycles are used by a large proportion of residents and gridlock is non-existent.
How about Los Angeles, where I lived for close to 15 years? LA is a city that certainly doesn't suffer from a lack of wide, impressive roads.
And yet extreme gridlock is still part of daily life.
Portland, on the other hand, has put in 500 kilometres of safe cycling infrastructure which resulted in a 65 per cent increase in commuter-based cycling trips.
Back home, government data shows that up to 70 per cent of NSW residents would use bikes for everyday transport if it was convenient and safe as evidenced by the number of cyclists in the city of Sydney which has quadrupled in the past three years where cycling infrastructure has been built.
The message is clear: build it and they will come.
Tassia Kolesnikow, Grays Point