Evaluation

These shared pathways enable and encourage active living by providing a range of opportunities for walking and cycling around the town and between key facilities.

The Junee pathways are a good example of a project that fulfils the PCAL design objective for walking and cycling routes – namely providing ‘an accessible and integrated network of walking and cycling routes for safe and convenient travel to local destinations and between key land uses within urban places’. The shared pathways in Junee demonstrate the application of a number of the design considerations set out in the ‘Walking and cycling routes’ section of Designing Places for Active Living. These include:

• Plan and construct connected walking and cycling routes leading to local destinations and focal points such as shops, schools, parks and public transport stops.

The paths connect to all the local schools, including Junee High School on Waratah Street, Junee North Public School on Queen Street, Junee Public School on Lorne Street and St Joseph’s (Catholic) Primary School on Kitchener Street. They connect with the town centre, two local shopping areas, residential areas, and to other focal points such as the town’s public notices/information boards. The paths connect a large number of sporting and recreational facilities (including the swimming pool, skate park and tennis courts on Lorne Street, the basketball and tennis courts at Burns Park and the Showground and new soccer ground at Willow Park), and provide access to local open space (such as the Willow, Burns, Memorial and Endeavour Parks). They also connect to public transport, including local bus stops and the Junee rail station.

The Greater Southern Area Health Service advises that recent participants in their ‘pedometer challenge’ said that taking up regular walking has been made much easier by the town’s accessible and connected walking paths that are close to their homes and workplaces.

• Create safe places for people to walk and cycle, which are overlooked by buildings and have clear sightlines.

A decision was made to construct the bike paths off-road wherever possible – both for safety reasons and to provide a more pleasant experience for users of the path. This separation from the road has created a high level of safety for cyclists and pedestrians. The paths are clearly signed for both path users and motorists.

The paths generally have clear sightlines and are overlooked by buildings at many points in the town. Council undertakes regular maintenance of the paths, including mowing the edges, spraying weeds and clearing the surface with a mechanical sweeper, in order to increase safety for users.

• Provide and maintain footpaths on all streets.

Council’s Pedestrian Access Mobility Plan (2006) identified a need for additional footpaths (as distinct from the separated shared paths) in many parts of town to provide a satisfactory level of pedestrian access. However like many local Councils, Junee Shire Council faces funding shortfalls that prevent it from funding these kinds of infrastructure improvements, and as a result it has been unable to fully implement this plan.

• Create stimulating and attractive routes to encourage repeated use with careful consideration of details such directness, lighting, shade, landscaping with appropriate species choice, pavement and edge treatments.

The Junee path network connects a number of attractive and stimulating local open spaces, including local parks and gardens, playgrounds and the Junee ‘waterwise garden’. It also connects to the boardwalk across the Junee Wetlands. These connections mean that the path network provides a variety of pleasant walking and cycling routes for local residents.

Attractive seating is provided at a number of points on the paths, and while the quality of landscaping varies – as would be expected on a network of paths of this size – in many places substantial attention has been paid to landscaping, and this has created a number of very pleasant routes. Council reports that an effort has been made to route the paths through areas that already have shade trees, and to plant additional trees alongside more exposed areas of the path where possible.

While the paths are not separately lit (Council reports that this would be too costly), the street lighting circuits in the vicinity of most sections of the path network provide a fair degree of illumination. Many of these streetlights have been upgraded or adjusted to increase the pool of light that falls on path areas. However one section of the path network (along John Potts Drive) remains dark. Most sections of the paths have been constructed from a light coloured concrete(50), partly because it is more visible in the dark than bitumen.

Pavement treatments – such as kerb ramps have been designed to help provide access to a variety of users, such as parents with prams, children on bicycles, older people on electric wheelchairs/scooters and others who are less mobile. Specific treatment has been made for pedestrians at a railway level crossing, and crossing point blisters have been provided on busy roads near schools and Council’s recreation centre.

• Ensure that shared paths are carefully designed with sufficient width, gentle gradients and turns and marked centre lines.

All the paths are 2.1m wide. Pathways have been designed with minimal cross fall but follow existing grades. Paths do not have marked centre lines, however at the beginning and end of each section safety barriers demarcate the centre of the path, helping to avoid conflict between users at these points.

• Locate secure bicycle storage conveniently close to building entries and/or at ground level in multi-storey buildings.

Bicycle racks have been installed at the entrance of the Junee Junction Recreation and Aquatic Centre in Lorne Street, and at the local schools.

• Connect local walking and cycling networks to regional routes linking centres and facilities.

Council recently carried out some minor works to connect the path network to several strategic bus stops in town. The aim of these works was to assist residents, particularly those with a disability, to use the paths to access the bus stops, so that they can take the bus into Junee and to the nearby regional centre of Wagga Wagga.