Walking and cycling between Ultimo and Glebe will soon be much safer after Council endorsed concept designs for a new two-way separated cycleway and improvements for people walking.
The cycleway will run along Kelly, Wattle and Mary Ann streets connecting riders to low traffic streets in Glebe and to the Goods Line in Ultimo, Darling Harbour, Haymarket and the expanding network of cycleways in the city.
The project will also see a new pedestrian and bike crossing installed on Mary Ann Street at Jones Street helping TAFE NSW and UTS students get around safely.
"Cycling and walking are not only fantastic for your health, they're also really cost-effective ways to commute so it's fantastic to see this infrastructure going into an area with so many students," Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore said.
"Around one third of residents in Glebe and Forest Lodge don't own a car and by providing these improvements we are empowering people to safely cycle or walk to work, their classes or the local shops.
"Having a better-connected network of cycleways is great for our city because it gives people another safe transport option. When someone rides, they take a car off the road or free up space on public transport and given transport is the second biggest contributor to emissions in our area, these projects are good for the climate too.
"We'll continue the work to complete a safe and connected bike network to ensure anyone who chooses to ride can do so safely. We're thankful for the continued support from the state government whose funding through the Active Transport Program made this possible."
The existing shared path along parts of Mary Ann Street will be replaced by the safer separated cycleway and give more dedicated space back to people walking with widened footpaths.
The changes will also see 85 of the 117 existing street parking spaces retained.
Construction of the cycleway and footpath improvements is expected to begin in early 2024 with the project completed later that year.
In 2023 the City of Sydney will begin constructing separated cycleways on Oxford, Liverpool and Castlereagh streets. This will add to an ever-expanding network which saw an additional 2 kilometres of safe cycleways constructed in 2022 bringing the total network in our area to 22 kilometres.
