The ACT Government published its proposed Active Travel Plan for comments in August 2022.
The CRA made a three page submission including the points outlined in our August newsletter.
Link here for our Active Travel Plan submission, including the relevant map of linkages and pathways in the Curtin Group Centre Master Plan.
The key points in our submission are:
The intent of the ACT Government’s Draft Active Travel Plan—More Canberrans walking and cycling more often to improve quality of life—is welcome. However, the Plan focuses far too much on areas close to shops and schools for walking and on cycling between Group and Town Centres.
The objective of More Canberrans walking and cycling more often will only be realised if the focus of this Plan is a person’s whole journey, from home to destination, and not just those parts of that journey that are covered by the current Draft.
Recreational walking and cycling are also important for realising the objective as are trips to the shops and other local services; however, they are neglected in this Draft Plan. The measures of success on page 10 of the Draft Plan are narrowly focused on work-related travel: they must be expanded to include recreational walking and cycling, and trips to the shops and other local services.
Discussion of e-mobility technologies in the Draft Plan is too near-term. In the relatively near-term (roughly the next five years) more people may prefer to use a small electric vehicle (a three-wheeler, like those used for postal delivery) rather than a car for short local trips but would not use an e-scooter or electric-boosted bicycle. These small electric vehicles would make a journey easier than walking and give some shelter from the weather for local shopping and other visits. They should be included in the ACT’s Active Travel Plan.
Improving infrastructure for walking, cycling and e-mobility within Curtin is a prerequisite if more Curtin residents are to walk, cycle and use e-mobility devices more often to improve their quality of life. This extends to the surrounding district: connections with adjoining suburbs and the nearby Town Centre.