[bikeqld] Miskin St/ Milton Road Roundabout crossing

[Ian Lister]

On Tue, 17 Nov 2009, Bob Wagner wrote:
> I am wondering if there is a simple solution to this intersection. Could 
> bikes coming from Sylvan road stay on the road on milton road then swing up 
> miskin Street and across into the bike/bus green lane?

Hi Bob,

I think Michael Yeates suggested that idea on this list a few years back, 
but I personally prefer to stay on the path at that point. As Kim 
mentioned, peak traffic on even that short section of Milton Rd just isn't 
that appealing. It's not even because of safety concerns - you just get 
stuck in the traffic.

It might be more attractive if somebody were willing to spend a few 
dollars and shift around some concrete and bitumen - sacrificing some 
grass to continue the bike lane from Sylvan Rd around on Milton Rd up to 
the roundabout (and ideally through to Dean St) would make life a lot 
easier. The only other issue I can see is that it would need to be 
protected (by a blob of concrete) at the roundabout entrance and exit in 
order to stop motor vehicles cutting across it.

This idea is briefly mentioned near the end of the Miskin St crossing 
section of this wiki page, along with a few others:

http://www.bikeqld.org.au/wiki/North_Toowong_corridor#Crossing_of_Miskin_Street

> It is a pretty poor excuse for a crossing so close to the entry of the 
> western bike way and Mt Cootha.

It is.

> Who do we contact with ideas?

Telling us (as you have done with this one) is a good first step. I'm 
pretty keen to have them go into the above document too, so that it can 
cover all the good ideas we can come up with collectively.

But then comes the hard bit: telling people who can actually do something 
about it. It's extra difficult because Brisbane City Council and Main 
Roads have overlapping responsibility there and neither is inclined to do 
anything that might negatively affect motorists, nor cost any real money. 
The roundabout itself (under Main Roads' control) is particularly 
notorious, and BCC weren't willing to touch it even for the multi-billion 
dollar Northern Link tunnel.

The best thing is probably to ignore such issues, and throw your ideas 
enthusiastically at both organisations, while of course making it clear 
that the current situation is terribly unsafe and a major barier on an 
important link:

     http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/BCC:BASE::pc=PC_1
     http://www.mainroads.qld.gov.au/en/Contact-us.aspx

...and, when you don't get any joy there, start asking some politicians:

     http://www.petermatic.com.au/contact.php
     http://www.campbellnewman.com.au/contact-campbell.html
     http://www.andrewfrasermp.com/01_cms/details.asp?ID=3
     http://www.qgd.qld.gov.au/roa-minister.html

If you do, keep us in the loop! This has been a pet issue of mine for a 
while, so let me know if you'd like some more information.

Cheers,

Ian