Quick build - Quick results

James Laing

GTA Consultants now Stantec, Victoria

This presentation was delivered at the 2021 Online Conference Series and until October 2022 is only available to registered delegates and Content Access Pass holders via Interchange. For information on accessing this and other presentations please review the Content Access Pass options.

ABSTRACT

In October 2020, and in an effort to provide relief from public transport during the Covid 19 pandemic, the Victorian State Government announced that 100km of pop up cycle lanes were to be developed throughout the inner metro regions of Melbourne at a cost of $13million. 

This presentation will focus on the development of these pop up cycle lanes from route selection, impact analysis, design and post construction evaluation. 

GTA Consultants, now Stantec were chosen to lead the development of the project for a dedicated client team within the Department of Transport. This was based on previous work undertaken by James and the team which helped identify potential routes which both captured the benefits, the likely user base and also the potential risks to delivery (parking loss, trade concerns, traffic impacts etc). 

The design of the pop up lanes were based on providing safer cycling conditions and aimed to capture a wide demographic of users. The difficulty with this was the restrictions on being able to propose treatments which would trigger civil and traffic signal works. 

This is very relevant as the designers had to mitigate the risks that were identified by only being able to use temporary materials. With limited funds, even on permanent schemes, viewers of the presentation will discover how things can be done cheap but effective and will see how ideas can be tested and adjusted if needed. 

There are many pop up lanes both in Australia and around the world and many have resulted in bollards being rolled out to claim space and little else. These designs dig deeper and look at things such as traffic speeds, controlling turns into both roads and high activity areas such as petrol stations. It continues cycle lanes though intersections, challenging the road rules and reduces the the risk of conflict where a merge is required. It shows how nudging and tactical urbanism can be effective and will capture what didn't work and how we reacted to ensure it did. 

Author

James Laing | GTA Consultants now Stantec

James is an industry leader in planning and designing active travel infrastructure projects. From his work at Transport for London through to his development of schemes in Australia, James brings extensive knowledge and passion to any project. His highlights since working in Australia are leading on the award winning designs for the 20 Minute Neighbourhoods project with DELWP and leading the designs for several pop up bike lanes both in Melbourne and regional Victoria. He is a regular presenter at conferences and is a strong advocate for the application of best practice solutions whilst challenging guidance and existing design philosophies that may be outdated.