Have your say: Council’s shared pathways survey closes soon
Published: 17 Mar 2023 11:23am
The third and final shared pathways community survey closes soon, with Council keen to hear residents’ views on Wagga Wagga’s networked cycling and walking shared pathway infrastructure, including the progressing Active Travel Plan project.
The community’s responses to the final survey will provide valuable information to a research project which assesses the community health and wellbeing impacts of the city-wide active travel infrastructure rollout.
Strategic Asset Planner (Parks and Recreation) Ben Creighton thanked residents who have completed the survey, and reminded people who haven't had their say yet, to complete the survey before Friday 31 March.
“This research is the first of its kind for a regional Active Travel project, and so the information being sought is quite important for future active travel plans in Wagga Wagga and paves the way for other regional areas,” Mr Creighton said.
“Wagga Wagga is the only place we are aware of that has rolled out city-wide infrastructure to this extent in such a short time frame, so the community is in a unique situation.
“The anonymous 10-minute survey is investigating whether a major infrastructure rollout like ours, which rapidly increases accessibility across the city, has a bigger impact on community perceptions of safety and active travel behaviour compared to a piece-by-piece approach to building cycleways.”
Council is interested in finding out if people are using the pathways to walk or run, cycle, how their habits may have changed in the last 12 months, and whether more people are jumping on the bike with their kids on the weekend or leaving their car at home to cycle to work.
“We’re keen to hear from cyclists and non-cyclists alike because we’re also interested in why some people might be hesitant to start riding and see if there’s something we can do to address that,” Mr Creighton said.
“Do people feel safe when riding on shared pathways? Are there barriers to regular use and suggestions on how we could alleviate them?”
The survey is a result of Council’s continuing partnership with Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD), the University of Sydney, iMOVE Australia and Transport for NSW.
Survey results will be analysed by the University of Sydney.
The shared pathways community survey is now open, closing 5pm, Friday 31 March 2023.