Bike lane backflip for North Adelaide
The Adelaide City Council has axed plans for a bike lane on O’Connell Street after community opposition came out of a consultation that was originally about pavers.
At Tuesday night’s council meeting, a petition of over 1800 signatures was presented urging councillors to “stick to its plan” to install a bike lane as part of the O’Connell Street upgrade.
But that, and a gallery of helmet-wearing attendees, wasn’t enough as councillors ultimately voted to remove the bike lane from O’Connell Street plans.
While a separated bike lane was originally included in the plans approved in November 2024, a recent consultation on details such as paver colours veered off course and brought up concerns about bike lanes.
The consultation, run by external consultant URPS, determined the preferred pavers were grey with a burgundy accent, in a nod to the colouring of traditional red brick paving in O’Connell Street.
Councillor Janet Giles tried to defer the item back to the council’s Infrastructure and Public Works committee to take another look at the consultation feedback, but this was ultimately lost.
The council voted to move forward and remove the bike lane from the plans, with only Councillors Giles, Keiran Snape and Deputy Lord Mayor Phillip Martin voting against it.
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Giles said the bike lane feedback plays into a broader theme of “recent arguments about what is good consultation in this chamber”
“It’s a very interesting contrast to the absolute thorough examination of the consultation on Hutt Street, where we have now got an absolute detailed picture of what percentage of people have commented…Yet, none of this detail exists in relation to this matter.”
Councillor Mary Couros, who along with Martin represents the North Ward, said that though this consultation started small, “word spread like wildfire”.
Couros said the people of North Adelaide want the council to “get on with it”.
“They want to move forward on something they have been waiting for a very long time,” she said.
Before the decision was made, Daniel Grilli spoke on behalf of a cycling community he said was left out.
“I understand that the recent opposition to the bike lanes has come off the back of a survey purely about pavers and other minor details,” Grilli said.
“This survey, I don’t believe it was spoken to the wider community, bike lanes weren’t even on the agenda, and therefore it should not have been used as a basis to remove the bike lanes from the project.”
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North Adelaide Society Chairperson Elbert Brooks also spoke to councillors before the decision and said North Adelaide was fortunate to have other bike lanes off the main street that connect with nearby areas.
Tram hopes dashed
During the debate, Councillor Mark Siebentritt, who voted in favour of moving plans forward without a bike lane, brought up a potential North Adelaide tram, which, if introduced, would prevent bike lane infrastructure.
“Ultimately, to me, public transport is an essential part of our strategy, and we need to ensure that O’Connell Street is future-ready,” he said.
“If we find ourselves at a point where the tram does not eventuate, if it is not supported in the future, I would be first to put my hand up and ask that we come back to this chamber and change it and further consider how we provide safe cycling on O’Connell Street in the future.”
The Adelaide City Council has been advocating for an extended tram network to North Adelaide for years.
Councillor Snape, who is running for the seat of Adelaide in the next state election, has pledged to support a North Adelaide tram.
Snape said in last week’s Infrastructure committee meeting that if the council held off an O’Connell Street decision until March, “there’s a rumour the state government could be considering it”.
InDaily asked the Transport Minister’s office if he could confirm the rumour, and a government spokesperson said, “while we are not in the habit of responding to rumours, there are no current plans to extend light rail”.
“The State Government is currently building three major overpasses along the Adelaide tram corridor, which will see the removal of three level crossings, and is also focused on bringing our tram services back into public hands in line with our 2022 election commitment,” the spokesperson said.
O’Connell Street is the fourth of five main street upgrades the council has planned, following Hindley, Hutt and Gouger Streets.
Construction has started on the eastern footpath of O’Connell Street between Archer and Tynte Streets, which will coincide with the opening of 88 O’Connell Street.
Another update on O’Connell Street and a more detailed design of the full street upgrade is due back to the council by March 2026.
