The Australian Institute of Traffic Planning and Management (AITPM) recently hosted a seminar on Making Space for People:
Speakers included representatives from GTA/Stantec, the Department of Transport (DoT), and the City of Melbourne. The DoT seminar described the benefits of pop-up projects and trials, including:
- Quick installation
- Relatively cheap
- Community engagement on tangible physical changes
- Can be quickly modified if operational or safety issues are identified
- Create evidence base for future changes
- Fail small
The DoT presentation also highlighted the Elizabeth Street bike lanes in the City of Yarra:
Our view
Streets Alive Yarra applauds the Department of Transport for collaborating with expert consultants and local government councils to deliver pop-up bike lanes. This is best practice work and should continue. We look forward to seeing trials in more locations, and hopefully the upgrade of trial infrastructure into permanent infrastructure.
Published 20th April 2021.