Much jubilation this week from Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore at the
opening of the long-awaited Oxford Street cycleway – a 1 km stretch of
dual cycleway from Taylor Square to Hyde Park corner – costing a
staggering $18.5 million dollars. As she said, “no longer will people riding
need to weave in and out of traffic, competing with trucks, cars, buses
along Oxford Street”. Really, this major traffic artery to the East reduced at
huge cost in the interests of 3,000 bike riders. Quite clearly, vital road
maintenance in an around the city has taken a back seat to the provision of
bike lanes – I’m not against cycling, far from it, however the lane reduction
in the likes of Pitt Street and Castlereagh Street between King and Market
Streets at peak times is a disaster, especially for commercial operators, the
life blood of the city.