Cycle instead

With moderate fanfare, the Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure has set up a new website called "Cycle Instead". We are told it "generates cycling routes using Adelaide's Bikedirect network of main roads, bike lanes, local streets, off-road paths and some unsealed paths".

I had a go on it and asked for the route from Kensington Gardens to the CBD. It involves a long ride along Kensington Road, across Brittania Roundabout, along Dequetteville Terrace and then take the fast Formula 1 bend into Flinders Street. If you are in a car, the route is probably perfect.

I won't be sending my children on that route in any hurry though.

If you click "low traffic" on the Route Type dropbox, you get a change. The route as far as Dequetteville Terrace is good (you avoid the roundabout at least) and it includes the pathways through the parklands.

This seems to be a good initiative if you are jumping on a bike to travel to work for the first time. If you have been commuting for any length of time, you would probably have already worked out your favoured route. It is not bad but far more effective I think would be proper signposted routes like the suggested Bike Boulevard through Beulah Road with decent treatment at intersections.

(pinched from here)