An advisory group will single out a preferred location for a bicycle path in the CBD this week, with a path down Sturt Street still on the table.
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Following the last meeting of the Ballarat Safer Cycling Connections this week, a preferred location for the east to west cycling route will be decided.
Possibilities for the path include Mair Street, Sturt Street and Dana Street. RRV will announce where the new cycling path will go in the second half of 2019.
The advisory group was created following furore over plans to place a bike path partially down the centre median of Sturt Street in February last year. The plan for a bike path between Pleasant and Dawson streets was nixed after intervention by Premier Daniel Andrews and the then-Roads Minister Luke Donnellan.
The Courier understands the advisory group have discussed the potential of placing bike lanes down Sturt Street's centre median this year, despite the plan's fractious history.
RRV chief regional roads officer Paul Northey said the reference group had been considering a range of factors around placement of the path, including "safety, heritage and economic benefits".
"The Ballarat Safer Cycling Connections public reference group has been exploring a number of possible locations for a proposed bike path in central Ballarat, including Mair Street, Sturt Street and Dana Street."
The Ballarat Safer Cycling Connections Group is comprised of representatives from City of Ballarat, the Ballarat Heritage Advisory Group, Ballarat Bicycle Users' Group, Victoria Police, Ballarat Health Services, the Sturt Street Traders Group and other community members.
At the time of backflip by the Victorian Government on plans for a Sturt Street cycling path, a government spokesperson said the road was a "Ballarat icon and we won't be doing anything that undermines the history or character of this iconic boulevard".
Construction on elements of the $9.3 million safer cycling infrastructure have already started, at Victoria Park and Mair Street.