Toowong - Land St Crossing

From Bikeqld

This is where the Sylvan Road bikelane joins the Bicentennial Bikeway (shared path) via Land Street at Toowong. The inbound access from Land St is straight forward but the outbound access from the bikeway tunnel to Land St is poorly designed. Most cyclists travel contra flow through this entry point to cross Land St to access the outbound bike lane on Land St. There is no official refuge zone or grab rails mid Land St but it is generally a safe option to cross Land St here without having to stop. Visibility in both directions is excellent and there is a narrow island in the event of a misjudgment. The alternative (shown in the second picture on right) is to continue outbound on the shared footpath to the traffic lights, dismount and then cross Land St. This is far from convenient or safe.

The use of the 'No Bicycle' symbolic sign seems inappropriate here as this sign is not meant to be used to prevent traffic in a particular direction by facing it toward that traffic flow. A more appropriate sign might be a 'No Entry' or 'One Way'. It is interesting to note that Council is attempting to prevent cyclists from exiting the shared path at that point and crossing the road. There is nothing to prevent a cyclist crossing the road at any other point near this ramp. It would seem that the usual marking to prevent traffic crossing a road is to mark the centre of the road with double lines. The arrow pavement marking does suggest a one way flow but then this same marking is used by Council on two way bike tracks such as the one shown on the left which is at Kangaroo Point

After discussions with Brisbane City Council Active Transport Unit the inappropriate 'No Bicyles' sign on the entry ramp was removed in late January 2007. The one way pavement arrow remains. Active Transport's view was that the ramp could be used by outbound cycle traffic to cross Land St rather than cross down at the traffic light controlled intersection but they did not want to encourage or be seen to be encouraging the practice.