Newsletter 25 – Bradfield Park

First the State Government “repurposed” Cammeray Golf Course for the Beaches’ Tunnel – now it’s Bradfield Park (Milsons Point) for a cycleway – what next?

Remember Bradfield Park? It was given to North Sydney’s residents as part compensation for the loss resulting from the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. (SHB)

Well, now the Government is plotting to take parts of it away – a war of stealing our precious green space.

The cycleway across the SHB, at 2.4 m wide, is undersize, and severely limiting in its capacity.

The Government’s planners want to extend the cycleway through Bradfield Park.

• How to do this in one of the most densely populated council areas and one with one of the lowest ratios of open green space to residents in Sydney?

Easy – “confiscate” our parklands

• build either a winding ramp through Bradfield Park or a massive corkscrew ramp and
• take a 4-meter-wide strip off Bradfield Park and turn it in to a dedicated cycleway.

The Planners seem locked into a band-aid approach to addressing the needs of SHB cyclists.

A cycleway on the bridge is needed but it must have the capacity to meet the needs of the future as well as being well connected at either end – this is achievable,

• not by extending the undersized cycleway on the SHB, but by recognising
• the opportunity that exists with a transfer of SHB traffic to the Western Harbour Tunnel (WHT).

How?

Convert the SHB lane closest to the pedestrian walkway on the eastern side to a generous cycleway and add entrances and exits:

• along the Warringah road system (built as part of the current WHT/Warringah
  upgrade) and
• use the old tram tunnel which exits between Essex and Grosvenor Streets in the city.

A decision to put Sydney on the right side of history, it would clearly indicate that the Government sees cycling as a part of the future because it

• delivers a massive increase in capacity, allowing safer cycling trips across the harbour
  and
• improves the experience for cyclists and pedestrians.