Alderley - Shand St, Raymont Rd, South Pine, Pickering St Intersection

This major intersection in Alderley is known as the 'fiveways'. It used to be a very busy roundabout which witnessed many skirmishes and accidents. In late November 2007 the BCC finally completed a major reconstruction of this intersection and converted it to a conventional intersection controlled by traffic lights. None of the roads joining this intersection are designated as bikeways in the Council's transport maps but there is a bike path alongside the Kedron Brook which can be reached from this intersection. The routes through this intersection are important for many commuters including cyclists to reach some of the major shopping, sports and business hubs in the area.

When Council constructed this new intersection they provided on-road bicycle lanes, featuring non-slip green treatment, retro-reflective white bike lane markings as well as traffic light activation buttons for cyclists (which would double as a single cyclist leaning post). This all looks quite promising but up close you find that these lanes go nowhere and come to a very abrupt end about 5m after the intersection with a ramp to guide cyclist onto the footpath and a kerb line which prevents a cyclist going straight ahead. A cyclist is bound by the Traffic Code to use this lane across the intersection and must remain inside the lane but when it ends so abruptly with a facing kerb the cyclist must then move out, potentially quite quickly into the regular lane. There is no warning for motorists of this impending merge of cycle traffic and there is effectively only about 2m of legal merging distance unlike a regular traffic merge lane which might be about 40m at least. There is also no illumination or retro-reflective chevrons which would normally be used on such an obstruction placed in the normal flow of traffic. This could result in a nasty surprise for a cyclist in conditions of poor visibility or at night. There are also no warnings for pedestrians where cycle traffic is guided up from a fast on-road facility to a shared footpath. Either way the cyclist chooses is fraught with danger. There seems to have been little thought put into the design of the intersection detail with regards to safety for all users but given that none of the adjoining roads are designated bikeways it probably not too surprising. Perhaps this is just a standard checklist item for any newly constructed intersection as opposed to anything state-of-the-art. Probably a good thing that at least some money is being spent now rather than later.