Our community has told us that they want to see more cycling facilities for families and young people to enjoy. That's why we're talking to local families and young bike riders to get a better idea of how we can create bike tracks that are great to use, without damaging the surrounding natural environment.
We're calling for feedback on two online engagements on the Our Wollongong website — one for concept designs for a bike track in Anama Street, Fairy Meadow and another that looks at three possible locations for a new bike track in either Bulli or Woonona.
Each bike track will look different depending on the chosen location, but they all have some similarities. These new tracks will be dirt tracks and will be designed to have features for both beginner and advanced bike riders.
"What we've learnt from our previous project in Figtree is that local knowledge is an invaluable resource. We want to hear from the families and young bike riders who know the area and can spot any potential problems before we start building the tracks," Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said.
"This also means taking into consideration the impact bike tracks have on our natural environment. We live in a truly beautiful part of the world and our community values our natural spaces, parks and coastline.
"Illegal or homemade bike tracks can often cause a lot of damage to important ecosystems as people can accidently destroy native plants and cause erosion in the process of building the track. We're seeing this taking place in natural areas like creek corridors and in bushland settings across the city and we don't want our waterways silted up which then impacts aquatic creatures and bird life.
"By working together, we aim to legitimatise bike tracks by choosing locations that are suitable for all members of our community and do not negatively impact our environment. It's a work in progress, and we value the input and support from our community as we work to expand this program to our other suburbs."
Here's a snapshot of the work Council is doing to create new bike tracks for our community:
Fairy Meadow
Where will it go?
Anama Street Reserve, Fairy Meadow.
What are we asking?
We're planning to build a new bike track on the existing reserve on Anama Street, Fairy Meadow. Right now, we're calling for feedback on our concept design which includes two tracks for the site — beginner and advanced tracks. Once we've heard from our community, we'll use this feedback to finalise the design.
