Geelong council has modified a “disjointed” 90-metre section of its planned bicycle network after the Independent last Friday revealed safety fears over the stretch.
Initially plans for the central Geelong-to-Barwon River stage of the project included a section that transferred from a footpath onto Moorabool Street and back again.
Service station operator John Verikos last week told the Independent the “unsafe” section posed a risk of head-on collisions between cyclists and motorists entering his business.
But in Tuesday’s night council meeting deputy mayor Trent Sullivan moved an amendment for the bi-directional bike paths to instead continue to share the footpath for the section.
“We’ve heard a lot of feedback about this particular section of the route, where a high number of vehicles are driving into and out of the service station,” Cr Sullivan said.
“Having carefully considered the design options, councillors have voted to move the bi-directional path for this section off the road and onto the footpath.
“This brings riders into a clearer line of sight for vehicles entering and exiting the service station.”
Council supported the amendment, before awarding a contract to Enoch Civil to begin building stage one of the southern link of the bicycle network in August, after delaying the tender last month.
While opposing the overall route of the bicycle network, Mr Verikios welcomed the changes, saying they would minimise the commercial impact on his and neighbouring businesses.
“This to me is probably a little bit safer because there is greater separation between bikes and cars,” he said.
Cr Sullivan said Bike Safe had endorsed the amendment, with council committing to review the performance of the shared footpath after the first 12 months in operation.
