Cycling has become an integral part of our urban environment, providing a key sustainable transport option for moving around our cities.

The Bourke Street Cycleway project is one of the first large-scale separated urban cycleways in Sydney. The success of the project is in the increased use of the cycle route, and there are now at least five times as many bike trips along Bourke Street prior to the cycleway.

The City of Sydney has an established strategy of developing Liveable Green Networks which link walking and cycling with village centres, major transport hubs, cultural precincts, parks, and open spaces. The Bourke Street cycleway is a showcase project for this initiative, allowing people of all ages and abilities to use a bicycle for transport and recreation.

The Bourke Street cycleway runs between Woolloomooloo in the north and Waterloo to the south. In addition to increasing the number of people riding to work along the route, the cycleway is used by local families, leisure riders, and children travelling to and from school.

The cycleway is integrated into the street environment and responds to different urban conditions along the route. The street is now a ‘greener’ environment with street tree planting, street verge planting, stormwater quality improvements through the introduction of rain gardens. The cycleway together with traffic calming and greening of the street have enhanced Bourke Street as one of Sydney’s most important civic boulevards.

The project demonstrates a strong multi-disciplinary approach between landscape architecture, cycle planning, traffic, and civil engineering.

The two-way separated cycleway delivers improved safety, comfort, and amenity for people on bicycles as well as an improved amenity in the streetscape for all pedestrians.

Bicycle journeys to the local school have become common on Bourke Street.

Client: City of Sydney

Studio: Sydney, Australia

Key Facts:

• 3.2km in length
• 1700 per weekday (2018)
• 5 times more cyclists than prior cycleway construction
• The first large-scale, separated-cycleway in the Sydney LGA

Location: Woolloomooloo to Waterloo, Sydney NSW

Traditional Custodians of the Land: Gadigal / Eora

Photography: Simon Wood