Blue Mountains Cycling Safety Forum

18 October 2017

The Hon Melinda Pavey MP

Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight

52 Martin Place

SYDNEY NSW 2000

Dear Minister

The BMCSF is an association formed to advocate for improved infrastructure and

safer cycling in the Blue Mountains and its immediate surrounds. It is supported

by Bicycle NSW, Penrith Cycling Club, Western Sydney Mountain Bike Club,

Springwood Cycling Club and individual subscribers.

We are seeking a meeting to discuss how the State Government may provide a

fit for purpose solution to enable cyclists to ride safely on the Great Western

Highway (GWH). The 700m section of the GWH between Todarello’s fruit house
(731 Great Western Hwy, Faulconbridge) and the Metro Petroleum, Faulconbridge (690A Great Western Hwy, Faulconbridge)

has minimal or no road shoulders and cyclists are forced to travel in the same lane as motor vehicles in a high volume

(>27,000 vehicles/day) and high-speed (80kph) traffic environment. This has

resulted in cyclists being injured. Unless the road is made safer for cyclists a

fatality or further serious injury is likely to occur.

This section of the GWH:

Faulconbridge Railway Station and Station Street Woodford.

sections of shared highway in the Blue Mountains.

We are aware of several near misses and at least two accidents involving

cyclists, one very serious. These incidents could have been avoided if there

were, for example, adequate shoulders.

Further information is contained in the attached brief. We would appreciate if

you could contact us to arrange a meeting.

Yours Faithfully

David Tritton

Submission to the Minister for Roads and the Minister for

Western Sydney

Upgrade of Road Shoulders on the Great Western Highway

at Faulconbridge to improve safety and amenity for cyclists

and other road users

The Great Western Highway (GWH), between Todarello’s fruit house and the Metro

Petroleum, Faulconbridge, has been consistently identified by cyclists as one of the most dangerous

sections of shared highway in the Blue Mountains. With minimal or no road shoulders, cyclists are

forced to travel in the same lane as motor vehicles in a high volume (15,500 vehicles/day) and highspeed

(80kph) traffic environment. This has already resulted in cyclists being injured. Unless a fit for

purpose solution is implemented a fatality or further serious injury is likely to occur. Widening the

road shoulders is a quick, cost- effective option which utilises existing infrastructure and meets

other Transport for NSW criteria for resourcing cycling projects.

Key Reasons

The section of the Great Western Highway (GWH) between Todarello’s fruit house and

the Metro Petroleum Faulconbridge is one of the oldest sections of dual carriageway in the

Blue Mountains. This section has been consistently identified by cyclists as one of the most

dangerous section of highway because of the absence of road shoulders.

Danger to cyclists and other road users

The Great Western Highway (GWH) between

Todarello’s fruit house and the Metro

Petroleum, Faulconbridge:

vehicles and trucks negotiate the steep

grades at this location at speeds faster than 80km per hour.

alternative local road route between Station

Street, Woodford and Faulconbridge Railway Station.

travelling at speeds at or more than 80km

per hour (according to RMS, > 27,000 motor

vehicles per day in east and west directions

in 2017 and approximately 12% of which are heavy vehicles).

cyclists caused by non-compliant road shoulder.

required by NSW traffic law when the speed limit is more than 60km/h.

cyclists from traffic approaching from the rear.

occupied and the traffic flows are medium to heavy.

Deters all cyclists - a survey undertaken by Blue Mountains Cycling Safety Forum

(BMCSF) suggests the lack of road shoulders at Faulconbridge is a deterrent to cyclists

travelling between Faulconbridge and Woodford, particularly among women.

Accidents and near misses…

The BMCSF knows of several near misses and at least two accidents involving cyclists, one very

serious involving hospitalisation. These incidents could have been avoided if there were

adequate shoulders. A number of witness testimonies have been published on the campaign

website (for details see below).

According to Transport for NSW (TfNSW) (Cycling Safety Action Plan 2014-2016 pp.3-4),

between 2008 and 2012, almost two thirds of cyclist’ fatalities in NSW occurred in greater

metropolitan areas (including greater Sydney). Almost half occurred on roads with speed limits

of 60km per hour and two thirds of these were on motorways or highways. The absence of

shoulders to provide ‘a safety zone’ for cyclists together with the traffic volumes and at

Faulconbridge poses an unacceptable risk to safety.

The existing road shoulders are non-compliant with the Australian guidelines for safer road design for high-speed roads

The existing road shoulders are not compliant with Australian guidelines for safer road design

other traffic for a high-speed road (i.e. >80km per hour) with the more than 5,000 vehicles per day.

Austroads assert that a road shoulder of 1.5 metres will have some safety benefit and is better

than doing nothing on high-speed roads.

A minimum shoulder width of 1.5 metres has been shown to reduce the risk of collisions

The NSW Government must find a fit for purpose solution to enable cyclists to ride safely

between Faulconbridge and Woodford. Widening the shoulders at Faulconbridge is a

comparatively quick, cost- effective option which utilises existing infrastructure and meets

protect vulnerable road users and is likely to increase the number of cycling trips.

The longer term the objective should also be to provide a separate cycling path to cater for

variations in the cycling community. Commuting, and fast cyclists will tend to opt for the

highway so a widened shoulder is the short term safety imperative and is guaranteed to be used.

About the BMCSF

The BMCSF is an association formed to advocate for improved infrastructure and safer cycling

in the Blue Mountains and its immediate surrounds. It is supported by Bicycle NSW, Penrith

Cycling Club, Western Sydney Mountain Bike Club, Springwood Cycling Club and individual subscribers.

Further evidence in support of wider road shoulders is set out in the Attachment and the

BMCSF website www.bmcsf.org

The Committee of the BMCSF

18 October 2017

2 Austroads, Guide Road Design – Part 3

Attachment to the Submission to the Minister for Roads and the Minister for Western Sydney

Background

The section of the Great Western Highway (GWH) between Bellevue Street Faulconbridge and

Weemala Avenue Linden is one of the oldest sections of dual carriageway in the Blue

Mountains. It is an 80km speed zone, but many motor vehicles and trucks negotiate the steep

grades at this location at speeds faster than 80km per hour.

The highway at this section contains a number of severe pinch points for cyclists with none or

little road shoulder to separate cyclists from motor traffic. Under NSW traffic law, motorists

must allow at least 1.5 metre clearance of cyclists when passing in a speed zone of 60km or

more. The width of the road lanes has not been increased to compensate for the absence of

shoulders. This means that motorists cannot provide a 1.5 metre clearance when passing

cyclists, particularly if the fast lane is occupied.

There is no alternative local road network for on-road cycle traffic between Faulconbridge

railway station and Station Street Woodford. The unsafe highway is the only choice for cyclists

travelling to or from the lower to the mid or upper Blue Mountains.

The Road Environment

The west-bound section is approximately 300 metres of uphill westbound length of road from

Metro Petroleum to the heavy vehicle checking area opposite Todarello’s Fruit House. This

section has narrow shoulders and poorly formed road edges.

means vehicles must use the road shoulder to ingress and egress the garage;

in width (see picture below).

for about 65 metres through a blind corner (see picture in brief above).

the pavement surface and these can present

hazards to cyclists which may affect their stability.

The east-bound section is about 300 metres long.

This section also has little or no shoulder.

markers to signal a right hand curve in the

horizontal alignment of the road.

are travelling above the speed limit of 80km. Cyclists are trapped between the Armco rail

and traffic lane.

their chances in the first three or four inches of the lane in fast moving traffic.

Attachment to the Submission to the Minister for Roads and the Minister for Western Sydney

through the right hand bend and would hit the Armco rail or cyclists, if any were present at the time.

disappears and cyclists are forced to ride in high-speed traffic lane for about 100 metres. If

both lanes are occupied, traffic in the slow lane must brake and wait to pass a cyclist,

however, the road conditions may not allow speeding drivers to brake in time to give the

cyclist safe clearance. This has been the cause of crashes.

east bound early morning drivers and could result in a failure to see a cyclist ahead sharing

the traffic lane or riding on the lane’s white line edge.

The sections of road do not meet Australian Road Safety Standards

The existing road shoulders are non-compliant with the Australian guidelines (Austroads) for

sealed and at least 2.0 m wide.

where there are a large number of

heavy vehicles and the shoulder is

next to a safety barrier.

Separation of Cyclists from Traffic

International best practice stresses the

importance of separating cyclists from highspeed

volumes and speeds of 80km a separate bike

path for cyclists is universally the

recommended solution.

RMS recommend the separation of cyclists

from motor traffic with separate bike paths

(rather than requiring cyclists to use road

shoulders) when traffic volumes exceed

5,000 per day and the regulated road speed

estimate that the number of vehicles using

this section of the GWH at Faulconbridge

each day is more than 15,000 in each direction.

Whilst this is the recommended standard, Austroads, nonetheless, assert a road shoulder of

1.5 metres will have some safety benefit and is better than doing nothing on high-speed roads.

3 Austroads, Guide Road Design - Part 3

4 Austroads, 2012, at p6.

5 RMS, NSW Bicycle Guidelines, 2005, p13

Attachment to the Submission to the Minister for Roads and the Minister for Western Sydney

The sections of road are Unsafe and Pose a Risk to Cyclists

RMS has a permanent traffic counter on the GWH located 50m west of Bellevue Street.

passed east, each day, in 2016. The figure was even higher on weekends (i.e. West: 16,009 and

East: 15,358). The RMS data for the same year indicates that there were 4,459 vehicles passing

west and 3,059 vehicles passing East during the morning peak, between the hours of 6am -

10am. For the afternoon peak, between the hours of 3pm to 7pm, the vehicle count was 3,942

(west) and 5,045 (east). These early morning periods are popular

Austroads claim that the risk of serious or fatal injury to cyclists increases on high-speed roads.

to RMS, heavy vehicles comprise 12% of the traffic on the highway.

The probability of a cyclist being fatally injured if a crash involves a heavy vehicle is higher than

reduce the incidence of a crash and injury severity associated with collisions between cyclists

section of the highway at Faulconbridge to greater risk of serious injury or death. It is

imperative that the construction of safe minimum shoulders is given priority.

On 29 March 2016, the Blue Mountains City Council (BMCC) commissioned a safety audit of the

Black Spot Application

The BMCC submitted an application for Black Spot funding in 2016 which focused on ingress

an egress from the Metro Petroleum service station as its priority (especially measures to

prevent vehicles stopping in the east bound fast traffic lane in preparation for making a right

hand turn across solid double lines to access the garage on the other side of the road).

RMS did not support the application (purportedly on the basis that this amount exceeded

the threshold for the Black Spot program). The BMCSF is not aware of any alternative proposal

by RMS to upgrade this section of the GWH despite the compelling safety argument for urgent action.

6 http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/about/corporate-publications/statistics/traffic-volumes/aadtmap/

index.html#/?z=14&q=Faulconbridge,%20New%20South%20Wales,%202776,%20Australia&id=99914

7 Austroads, 2012, Cycling on Higher Speed Roads, p3

8 Austroads, 2012, opcit, p4

9 RMS, http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/projects/greater-sydney/great-western-highway/index.html

10 Austroads, 2012, opcit, p.20

11 Austroads, Guide Road Design - Part 3

12 http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/projects/freight-regional/

13 BMCC, Minutes of ordinary meeting, 02/02/15 and Item 15, minutes of the Council ordinary meeting, 23/08/16

14 BMCC, Great Western Highway – Linden to Faulconbridge Road Safety Audit, at p6, see Enclosure 1, Council ordinary meeting, 23 August 2012

Attachment to the Submission to the Minister for Roads and the Minister for Western Sydney

Volunteer cyclist count

A volunteer cyclist count over 3 weekends between 25 March and 9 April 2017 showed lack of

safety is a deterrent to cyclists travelling between Faulconbridge and Linden.

highway on Saturdays and about 60 trips on Sundays:

preparedness to ride the section notwithstanding the risk)

by the road authority. The combination of high traffic volumes, high speed limit,

unsafe riding conditions and a history of accidents (or near misses) involving cyclists

means that the risk of harm occurring to current users is not just foreseeable but highly probable.

risk of harm or injury because the danger is inherent in the current road design.

conducted by the BMCSF said that they avoid this section of the GWH because “it is

just too dangerous..” and that they “…feel vulnerable and exposed”.

70 per cent of people in NSW either ride regularly or would like to ride more and say

up only a quarter of people of who cycled up to five kilometres and a major deterrent

was unsafe routes and the absence of dedicated cycle paths (‘Sydney's Cycling gender

Crash Data does not tell the whole story

Reliance on crash data alone is not an accurate measurement of risk. TfNSW acknowledges that

there is known underreporting of serious injuries sustained by cyclists (Cycling Safety Action

Plan 2014-2016 p4). Our qualitative research supports this. We know of several near misses

and at least two accidents involving cyclists, one very serious. The latter involved

hospitalisation. The others were not reported to police. These incidents could have been

avoided if there were adequate shoulders to provide some separation between cyclists and motorists.

Furthermore, road safety performance should take into account the extent to which a poorly

engineered (non-compliant) road influence perceptions of safety and vulnerability and thereby

deter the use of bicycles. Such factors are a barrier to the RMS succeeding in achieving its KPI

Road design should cater for variation in the cycling community

The NSW Government, together with other members of the Australian Transport Council,

committed in 2010 to a safe road system. This means roads are designed to reduce the

15 Cycling trips refers to an aggregate of counts for both east and west bound trips over the survey period for Saturday and Sunday respectively.

16 Blue Mountains City Council Minutes of ordinary meeting, 02/02/15

17 http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/roads/bicycles/benefits.html

Attachment to the Submission to the Minister for Roads and the Minister for Western Sydney

incidence and severity of crashes. International best practice for applying a safety systems

safety of these groups both through physical changes to the environment and

behaviour change measures.

prioritising evidence based engineering measures to ameliorate those risks.

from high-speed traffic, but who are less concerned about speed.

is generally more suitable for people wanting to move fast (e.g. commuting or training).

A safer route between Faulconbridge and the mid-mountains is likely to encourage cyclists of

varying abilities in greater overall numbers well as increase the frequency of trips and the

participation of women in the activity.

Three possible ways (there may be others) to achieve a safer road design for the GWH at

Faulconbridge include:

1. Widening of the Road Shoulders

Building/ extending the shoulders to a safe standard would reduce the hazard for current

cyclists. It utilises existing infrastructure and benefits motorists by providing a break down

lane in the event of an emergency.

This proposed widening would bring this section up to the same standard as the rest of

the GWH between Penrith and Katoomba.

2. Separate Bike Path Behind the Armco Fencing

This is a variation of proposal 1. Under this option the shoulder is still widened except that

where Armco rails are situated, the newly constructed bike shoulder would go behind the

rails. This would benefit cyclists by providing full separation from the traffic for these short sections.

3. Two-Way Shared Cycle Path

The longer- term objective should be to provide a separate bike path between

Faulconbridge and Woodford (10.7km) – i.e. to fill the missing link in the local road network.

To be fit for purpose a separate two-way bike path should provide for a bridge and/ or

underpass to facilitate crossings to the other side of the highway. This will ensure that the

facility gets maximum use. Requiring cyclists to dismount and dash across the highway

(albeit to an island in the centre of the dual carriage way) to continue riding on a pathway

on the opposite side of the road must be avoided, as this will deter usage. Traffic lights are

a better option for a crossing but this is still a suboptimal design because it stops cycling

and motoring traffic flow.

18 Bristol City Council, A Safe Systems Approach to Road Safety in Bristol: 2015-2024

19 Austroads, 2012, opcit, at p6.

Attachment to the Submission to the Minister for Roads and the Minister for Western Sydney

Unless the separate cycle path is free from stoppages, commuting and fast cyclists will

tend to opt for the highway so a widened shoulder is the short term safety imperative and

is guaranteed to be used.

Further Support for the Proposal to build road shoulders on the GWH

Transport for NSW has set out 10 principles to guide the delivery of cycling projects in the

Design Standards, testimonies of crash victims, safety research and community feedback

all constitute the strong and compelling evidence underpinning the proposals to widen the

road shoulders (and the longer term) build a separate cycle path.

The proposal to widen the road shoulders uses existing infrastructure and represents good

value for money when weighted against the improvement to safety and the removal of

barriers to increased cycling trips.

The proposals are the result of collaboration between community groups and the BMCC.

In 2015 the BMCC set a target to increase cycling participation by doubling the number of

bicycle trips made in the Blue Mountains, as a percentage of total trips, by 2020 and

increasing the growth in cycling as a share of for all transport trips in greater Sydney and

making the road safer, cyclists perceptions of their vulnerability will change and this may

encourage more people to cycle between the lower and mid to upper mountains.

The road section the upgrade is just 6km from Springwood – a major Blue Mountains

social and commercial hub.

The proposals remove a cycling blackspot from the only route between Faulconbridge and

Woodford and is a regional corridor between Penrith and Katoomba.

The proposals allows for both commuter cycling and cycling tourism.

The proposals partners with council to remove a cycling blackspot on the GWH and

thereby improve the only road link between Faulconbridge and Woodford.

22 http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au/roads/bicycles/benefits.html