Looking for somewhere to ride off the Christmas calories, but want don’t want to have to mix with motor vehicle traffic? Here is a route connecting some of Brisbane’s bikeways on the south side including the Bulimba Creek Bikeway, V1 Veloway, Kangaroo Point Bikeway, Goodwill Bridge, Bicentennial Bikeway, Centenary Cycleway, Carole-Wacol Bikeway, Ipswich Motorway Bikeway, Salisbury Bikeway, Lophostemon Track, Tarragindi Bikeway, Norman Creek Greenway, and Lytton Rd Cycleway.
The Bulimba Creek Bikeway effectively starts at Murarrie Recreation Reserve (which you can reach from Murarrie Station, or by riding down Queensport Rd from the Gateway Bridge). It is crumbling in parts, particularly at the downstream end, but improves as you head into Carindale. It can be quite tricky to follow, but it’s fun if you like exploring, and don’t mind a couple of steep climbs where it departs the creek. (The climb up Eromanga St and Kilmorey St to get around the Pacific Golf Course is particularly brutal. We hope at least some of this can be bypassed with a path through to Fairway Place).
At Eight Mile Plains, you can take the (narrow) path up Miles Platting Rd to find the Veloway just north of its current termination on Logan Rd. The Veloway is a mostly direct and fast route into the CBD, but it’s also quite hot and exposed, so best done in the early morning or evening. Check out progress on Stage E which will soon give cyclists a first-class route to bypass what is currently the worst section at Tarragindi.
The Veloway takes a steep drop at its northern end to connect to the newly-renovated Kangaroo Point Bikeway and the Goodwill Bridge. But imagine if instead it kept going straight into the CBD via an add-on path or re-purposed left-lane of the Captain Cook Bridge!
From the CBD, you can take the Bicentennial Bikeway, Sylvan Rd, then follow the Centenary Cycleway to the end. The tricky bits are navigating past the Ipswich Motorway interchange and remembering to cross the rail line and motorway at Progress Rd. Further north, the crossing at Sumners Rd is a mess at the moment, but will be fantastic when the work on the bikeway underpass is completed as part of the Sumners Rd interchange upgrade.
Sadly, the Centenary Cycleway terminates abruptly at Roxwell St Ellen Grove, but from there you can enlist Google Maps to help find the signs to the Carole-Wacol Bikeway (which is a bit neglected) which will take you to the Ipswich Motorway Cycleway at Viking Drive. (The Viking Drive section is not marked on Google Maps, but it does exist, and is actually of really high quality).
The Ipswich Motorway Cycleway is disjointed and hard to follow. You will need to cross at Progress Rd and find the path on the western side at Wacol Station Road (marked by an early prototype of modern banana bars). The Centenary Motorway intersection is equally tricky in this direction, and you will still need to do some road-riding though Darra and Oxley.
It’s also very difficult to reach the lastest section of the Ipswich Motorway Cycleway (currently under construction) at Bannerman St, Oxley. (Note to the BUGs: we need to campaign for the footpath to be upgraded to a shared path at from the Energex Depot around to the old AMart site)
It will be great when the cycleway is finished here though, including a connection to Granard Rd, and the extension we understand TMR are planning to join to Balham Rd.
Belinda notes: My homeward stretch was even more fiddly, and it was raining quite hard, so I don’t have photographs. I took the piecemeal Salisbury Bikeway, Lophostemon Track, Tarragindi Bikeway (which is actually mostly on-road), Norman Creek Greenway (which was flooded) and Lytton Rd Bikeway to get to Norman Park. From there is was my usual rubbish route via footpaths and hostile roads back home to Morningside.
Conclusion: We have two of Brisbane’s best bikeways on the southside, with the Veloway and Centenary Cycleway, but everywhere else there is huge need for improvement!
Space for Cycling Brisbane 