Epping to Carlingford Cycleway

To enable the Epping to Carlingford Cycleway, Council proposed to install the following traffic facilities in 2020 (please see the context map in the resources section for additional detail):

• Widening the western kerb in Victoria Street, south of Bridge Street, Epping, and installing a refuge island in Rickard St at Marsden Rd, Carlingford
• Upgrading the existing pedestrian refuge islands at High St, south of Epping Rd, and the roundabout Bridge St/Rawson St (eastern/southern approach) Epping, to allow use by cyclists
• A separated bi-directional cycleway and shared user path on the southern side of Willoughby St between Pennant Pde and Hermington St, Epping
• Widening the footpath to a shared user path on the southern side of Bridge Street between High Street and Wyralla Avenue, Epping, and the eastern side of Marsden St between Pennant Hills Rd and Rickard St, and between Pennant Pde and Barellan Ave, Carlingford
• A continuous footpath at Orchard St, south of Willoughby St, Epping, with a one-way northbound restriction for vehicles to prevent traffic turning into Orchard St
• A pedestrian/cyclist refuge island in Midson Rd at Wyralla Ave, Epping, and introduce a “left in/left out only” for all movements at this intersection.

As part of the Local Government amalgamation process undertaken by the NSW Government in 2016, the City of Parramatta received $15 million from the NSW Government’s Stronger Communities Fund (SCF) to kick-start the delivery of community infrastructure and service improvement projects. In November 2016, Council consulted the community about project ideas and received more than 170 project submissions. In December 2016, a panel consisting of all State MPs (or their representatives) endorsed projects for the SCF. One of these projects was improving the cycling connection between Carlingford and Epping. This project was publically announced in April 2017.

The pedestrian route improvement project has evolved from Council’s 2017 campaign, Imagine Epping, which asked the community to submit ideas for small-scale improvements to their neighbourhood. More than 100 ideas were reviewed by an internal panel against a range of criteria, including feasibility, resourcing and timeframe to be realised.

Works to prepare for the cycleway are expected to start in mid-2020.

Construction would be subject to a successful tender and likely be staged over 6-9 months over all the locations.

If you have any comments or enquires, please email transportplanning@cityofparramatta.nsw.gov.au, or contact Council's Transport Planning Section on 02 9806 5632.

Improving cycling connectivity between Epping and Carlingford was put forward as a community nominated project for a Stronger Communities Fund grant. In 2018, Council sought community feedback on route infrastructure, and potential route options at the western end of the proposed Epping to Carlingford Cycleway. Consultation involved:

1. A letterbox drop of a flyer promoting the route to all houses within 50m of the entire route (1600 houses in total)
2. A presentation to Carlingford Public School P&C
3. An email to the ‘Our City Your Say’ community panel members in Epping, Carlingford and surrounding suburbs (1600 in total)
4. Targeted social media posts reaching 2,200 people
5. Intercept Surveys during ‘Bike to Work Week’ breakfast on the River, and Epping Town Centre.

Almost 200 responses were received, of which a majority preferred a cycle path separated from general traffic on Willoughby Street (75%) and Bridge Street (90%), and also identified the Barellan / Talinga alignment as the preferred option.

The overall project cost went beyond the available SCF grant funding, so Council applied for complimentary State Government funding. In June 2019, Council was notified that it has been granted funds for a Priority Cycleway in the TfNSW Active Transport Program.

In early September 2019, all houses on the southern side of Willoughby Street (on the proposed cycle route) were doorknocked by staff to gather resident feedback on the detailed concept plan. Residents and businesses on the southern side of Bridge Street were also doorknocked soon after. In October 2019, all houses either side of the entire proposed route were notified through a letter, and advertisements were placed in the Hills Shire Times, Parramatta Advertiser and Northern District Times for 4 weeks.

After feedback from the community and through a number of onsite information sessions, Council placed the project on hold, and extended the consultation period into 2020, and for the results of that consultation to be reported to Council.

The community told us that safety was important for any improvements to transport links. Click here to find out what else we heard.

The challenge in connecting Epping to Carlingford for cyclists is existing street connections, topography and available budget. The proposed route strikes the balance between providing a coherent and direct route, whilst minimising topography and cost.

Please see the analysis document in the resource section to the right, which details each of the potential routes, and outlines the challenges and opportunities of each.

There is a small portion of the community who are comfortable riding with vehicles no matter how busy the street is: the “strong and fearless”. However, through international research it has been identified that two-thirds of the community are “interested but concerned” about cycling, and the key factor is safety. Councils endorsed Bike Plan 2017 sets a vision for cycling to be safe, and perceived as a safe and attractive option for all members of the community, for those aged 8 through to 80. Therefore, on the busier streets such as Bridge Road, Marsden Road and Willoughby Street it is proposed to separate cyclists from vehicles. This aligns with the initial community consultation in 2018 on the cycling route where a majority of respondents preferred separation from vehicles.

Proposed for quieter local streets.

A painted white bike logo (PS-2) within the roadway; this shows cyclists it is a bike route, and alerts motorists that they may see cyclists on the road.

There is no proposal to add a centreline, or remove parking along mixed traffic streets.

An example is below:

In NSW, only those persons aged 16 and under, or accompanying a person 16 and under are legally allowed to ride on a footpath. A ‘Shared Path’ is a footpath that cyclists are legally able to ride on, and is commonly much wider than a footpath. This allows pedestrians and cyclists enough room to pass and move at different speeds. For example, in City of Parramatta, the minimum footpath is 1.5m wide, and a minimum shared path is 3.0m.

The route utilises existing Shared Paths on Pennant Hills Road, a portion of Marsden Road and the bridge over the railway line at Epping. Shared Paths are proposed on streets that are busier, so that cyclists are physically behind the kerb and provided the same level of protection as pedestrians from general traffic.

They are proposed for Marsden Road, Bridge Street, Pennant Parade, short sections of Willoughby Street, and on the corner of Midson Road and Wyralla Avenue.

A bike path is proposed for the southern side of Willoughby Street between Pennant Parade and Hermington Street. This is in response to community feedback where 75% preferred the bike path to be separate from traffic, and two thirds of those preferring cyclists and pedestrians to be separate as well.

The proposed bike path between the parked cars and the footpath follows national Ausroads guides, and is commonly used in Australia and Greater Sydney.

An example from Queens Road, Westmead is below:

Council has been granted this funding by the State Government for the nominated project only that is cycling specific; it is not available to be spent on other projects.