With implications for active transport everywhere in NSW
Bicycle NSW was pleased to receive a notification from contractors Fulton Hogan that work was due to commence to install two signalised pedestrian crossings at new intersections on Memorial Avenue, Kellyville.
However, this news is not all positive. Tax payers have been saddled with expensive retrospective work, just weeks after the contractors Daracon Group completed the Memorial Avenue Upgrade.
It took several letters from Bicycle NSW to the Minister for Roads and the Transport Secretary to raise awareness of missing pedestrian legs at the new intersections. Which, due to a very clear NSW Government policy to provide signalised crossings on all intersection legs, should not have been missing in the first place!
It is so frustrating that the intersections were planned, designed and constructed, passing through the hands of multiple engineers and experts, without the 'mistake' being noticed and corrected.
Better for cars but worse for people walking and cycling
Memorial Avenue has been widened from 2 to 4 lanes in an attempt to accommodate the growth in traffic in Sydney's north west. The $224 million project was completed in late 2024.
As is typical with road ‘upgrade’ projects, new intersections are oversized. They offer very poor conditions for people outside cars.
The intersection of Memorial Avenue with Arnold Ave and Severn Vale Drive. The feeder roads widen to include slip lanes and multiple turning lanes. Pedestrians and bus passengers are faced with painfully slow and shadeless multi-stage crossings. Note that there is no pedestrian crossing on the eastern side of the intersection. (Image: Transport for NSW)
What was provided for active transport?
The project delivered some new shared paths on both sides of Memorial Avenue.
Rob Kemp, CAMWEST President and Advocacy Lead, went out for a ride to see how the new bicycle facilities were coming along. He was particularly keen to see how they would help connect the paths along the intersecting Stranger Creek corridor.
“There are shared paths on the eastern, creek, side of Arnold Ave and Severn Vale Drive that had been truncated for a while at Memorial Ave,” explains Rob. “I was looking forward to seeing them joined with the Memorial Ave duplication and upgrade.
Missing pedestrian crossings – yet again…
“What I found was very disappointing. Although construction was still underway, it was clear that there would be no crossing of Memorial Ave on the eastern side of the intersection.”
We then discovered a similar issue further west where Free Settlers Drive and Arnold Avenue meet Memorial Avenue. In this case, the north-south shared paths are on the western side, but the crossing was on the east.
Pedestrian legs are missing on two new intersection of Memorial Avenue. The highlighted intersection on the right is shown in the photo above (Image: Sydney Bike Map / Bicycle NSW)
“To continue following Stranger Creek, bike riders would need to cross 6 intersection segments, each with separate traffic signals,” says Rob. “And it will be a scorching hot wait in the summer.”
“To my way of thinking this makes a mockery of Transport for NSW claims of prioritising pedestrians and cyclists.”
The shared paths on Arnold Avenue and Severn Vale Drive are on the eastern side of these roads. But there is no crossing on the eastern side of the new intersection with Memorial Avenue. Someone riding in a north-south direction will have to cross six intersection segments, each with separate traffic signals, to cross Memorial Avenue (Image: Google Maps/CAMWEST)
Transport for NSW shouldn't need a member of the public to notice missing pedestrian crossings
We wrote to Transport for NSW to ask why these crossings are missing - in contravention of the Transport for NSW's own standard on Providing signalised crossings on all intersection legs?
The response from then-Minister for Roads, the Hon. John Graham MLC admitted the mistake. Transport for NSW committed to construct one of the crossings and investigate the second. A follow-up letter confirmed that this second crossing could go in after modifications to the intersection to improve sightlines.
But retrospective work is so expensive and disruptive!
Bicycle NSW acknowledges that the Memorial Avenue project was planned over 10 years ago. The construction drawings are from 2020. This design work predates the excellent NSW Government policies that aim to prioritize pedestrians and bike riders. Such as the Providing for Walking and Cycling in Transport Projects Policy and the Road User Space Allocation Policy.
So will poor outcomes like this stop happening?
Sadly, no. Despite efforts to strengthen the Road User Space Allocation Policy in 2024, most sections of the Transport bureaucracy are deeply buried in motornormative thinking that is taking far too long to unravel.
Bicycle NSW spotted another missing intersection as part of the Richmond Bridge project. The proposals for Epping Bridge are awful.
Even in the middle of Sydney's most walkable neighbourhood, Haymarket, a crossing is missing on a key pedestrian desire line. This is further evidence of a systemic issue that even City of Sydney scrutiny hasn't addressed.
NSW needs top-down change
The most important question we put to the Transport Secretary remains unanswered:
What is being done to ensure that the amenity, safety, and convenience of people walking and riding bikes is not sacrificed or overlooked in future infrastructure projects?
The issues at Memorial Avenue provide just a snapshot of the ongoing failure of road projects to align with a raft of excellent NSW Government policies and strategies that aim to reduce private vehicle use and improve conditions for active transport.
Bicycle NSW is very tired of battling transport projects which take our collective goals for health, emissions, air quality, congestion, active transport and liveability in the wrong direction.
We hope that a deep dive into the planning of the Memorial Avenue project will trigger systemic changes in the way TfNSW plans the transport network in Greater Sydney and beyond.
And that the review of the Road Act, which is currently underway, will make a real difference to the status quo.
One more thing….
Bicycle NSW has been campaigning for a better environment for bike riding for almost 50 years. It is the only bicycle advocacy group based in NSW with full-time staff advocating every day for all riders. But did you know that we are funded only by membership fees and donations?
Please join Bicycle NSW and support our advocacy for better infrastructure and safer streets. You will also ride easy, covered by our comprehensive insurance and enjoy many other Member-only benefits.
If you are not ready to join the Bicycle NSW family, then we would love you to donate to the Australian Bicycle Advocacy Fund.