Whether you’re a novice or die-hard enthusiast, Wollongong City Council’s freshly adopted Cycling Strategy 2030 is focussed on delivering an improved riding experience for everyone.
The Strategy was adopted at tonight’s Council meeting, and sets out what actions we’ll pursue over the next decade to ensure Wollongong is the place to ride.
“Cycling has always been an enjoyable pastime for many as well as a key mode of transport for others,” Wollongong City Lord Mayor Councillor Gordon Bradbery AM said.
”What we’ve seen this year is a dramatic increase in cycling participation rates as people sought other ways to get about, looked for new ways to exercise, or enjoyed additional downtime as daily life had an unexpected shake-up.
“We’ve been working on this Strategy for a number of years but it was certainly a good time to be able to consult with our community and use their feedback develop a key document that’ll provide a clear direction between now and 2030.”
Some of the key aims for the Strategy include increasing cycle participation cross the city, increasing people’s level of comfort with riding and boosting the cycling network length from 130km to 215km.
The targets are all focussed on five pillars; safe, convenient, planned, ‘business, tourism and events’, and innovation.
During the community engagement period, some 198 surveys were completed, 1200 pins were dropped on an interactive cycling network map and a further 56 extended written responses were received by Council. This feedback was considered in the finalisation of the Strategy.
“I would like to thank all those who took the time to provide feedback in whatever form it took,” Cr Bradbery said.
“Your comments are important as they help us make sure this Strategy meets our community’s needs and expectations.
“It’s a big time for cycling and we’re only going to see this level of interest increase as we get closer to the UCI Road World Cycling Championships in September 2022.”
