Augusta Road Bike Lanes

City of Hobart is in the process of designing bike lanes for Augusta Road in Lenah Valley. Here’s what could be built within a year or two.

What’s the plan?

The Local Area Mobility Plan (LAMP) for Hobart’s Northern Suburbs released in November 2023 listed one priority project — protected bike lanes and pedestrian upgrades for Augusta Road. These upgrades build on the streetscape improvements made to the retail precinct in 2018.

Map showing Augusta Road in Lenah Valley. Two sections of the road are marked with dark green — from Creek Road to Giblin Street and from Waverley Avenue to New Town Road. — The dark green arrows indicate future protected bike lanes on Augusta Road in Lenah Valley. They extend from Creek Road / Pottery Road in the west to New Town Road / Elizabeth Street in the east. The retail precinct between Giblin Street and Waverley Street appears to be excluded. Total length is approximately 1.6 km.

The LAMP proposes four different options for the bike lanes. All options fit within the road’s 15 m kerb to kerb width meaning the existing kerbs would be retained.

Option 1

Narrower lanes allowing two each of traffic, parking and bike lanes.

Two traffic lanes (each 3 m wide)
Two parking lanes (each 2.1 m wide)
Two one-way protected bike lanes (each 1.5 m wide with a 0.9 m buffer)

Overhead view showing a street with two footpaths, two buffered bike lanes, two parking lanes and two traffic lanes.

Cross-sectional view showing a street with two footpaths, two buffered bike lanes, two parking lanes and two traffic lanes. — Option 1 cross section

Option 2

Wider lanes by removing one parking lane.

Two traffic lanes (each 3.5 m wide)
One parking lane (2.3 m wide)
Two one-way protected bike lanes (each 2 m wide with a 0.8 m buffer)

Overhead view showing a street with two footpaths, two buffered bike lanes, one parking lane and two traffic lanes.

Cross-sectional view showing a street with two footpaths, two buffered bike lanes, one parking lane and two traffic lanes. — Option 2 cross section

Option 3

Wide traffic and parking lanes with one two-way bike lane.

Two traffic lanes (each 3.5 m wide)
Two parking lanes (each 2.3 m wide)
One two-way protected bike lane (2.8 m wide with a 0.6 m buffer)

Overhead view showing a street with two footpaths, two parking lanes and two traffic lanes. There is a single bidirectional buffered bike lane.

Cross-sectional view showing a street with two footpaths, one bidirectional buffered bike lane, two parking lanes and two traffic lanes. — Option 3 cross section

Option 4

Wider two-way bike lane by removing one parking lane.

Two traffic lanes (each 3.5 m wide)
One parking lane (2.1 m wide)
One two-way protected bike lane (3 m wide with a 0.9 m buffer)

Overhead view showing a street with two footpaths, one parking lane and two traffic lanes. There is a single bidirectional buffered bike lane. — Note that this option is 2 m narrower than the others — maybe an error or maybe intended for a narrower part of the road?

Cross-sectional view showing a street with two footpaths, one bidirectional buffered bike lane, one parking lane, two traffic lanes and a spare 2m. — Option 4 cross section — note the 2 m of unallocated width

Our thoughts

The good

Augusta Road is a key route in the bike network. A lot of residents use it to access their local shops or to travel into the city. It’s included in the Greater Hobart Cycling Plan for this reason. The lack of bike lanes here was the issue most frequently identified by the community during the development of the LAMP →

A map of Lenah Valley showing lots of blue dots. The highest concentration of dots is along Augusta Road. — Locations of community cycling concerns in Lenah Valley. Note the high concentration along Augusta Road.

All four options are all ages and abilities (AAA) standard bike infrastructure. It will make people safer. It will give a wide cross section of the community the genuine option of riding their bike, scooter or other micromobility device for many of their trips. More people riding instead of driving means less traffic.
At 1.6 km long it will be by far the longest stretch of on-road AAA-standard bike infrastructure in Hobart.
The narrower lanes in Option 1 would encourage lower speeds even without a change in the nominal speed limit. Calmer streets are safer streets — less crashes, less injuries & deaths if crashes occur. They’re also less noisy and more pleasant in general.

The less good

The 350 m section through the retail precinct seems to be excluded from the project, presumably because it was upgraded in 2018. Unfortunately this section is an unprotected door-zone bike lane in the uphill direction only — definitely not AAA standard. It will be like a section of dirt road in the middle of a motorway.
These bike lanes won’t connect to any existing parts of the network. Until a similar standard of infrastructure continues through North Hobart to Campbell and Argyle Street, their full potential won’t be realised.
Options 3 & 4 both have a two-way bike lane and are therefore less safe. People riding on two-way bike lanes have a much higher chance of being hit by a vehicle entering from a side street or driveway. Austroads standards state two-way bike lanes “should only be considered when the road width is insufficient for bicycle lanes on each side of the road”. A two-way bike lane can be an acceptable solution in certain circumstances — for example a street with no cross streets on one side — but this isn’t the case for Augusta Road.

Where’s it at?

Currently in the planning / design phase.

Best guess is that construction will occur in the 2025-26 financial year.

Timeline

Late 2022 — Initial community input via Crowdspot maps to inform the draft Northern Suburbs LAMP
July-August 2023 — Community feedback on the draft Northern Suburbs LAMP
November 2023 — Final Northern Suburbs LAMP endorsed unanimously by City of Hobart Council
July 2024 — $50,000 for planning the Augusta Road bike lanes awarded to City of Hobart under the state government’s Better Active Transport in Greater Hobart grant program