Rivulet Walk & Bike Way, Hobart.

Location          South Hobart/CBD

Client              Better Hobart Group 

Year                2017

Status             Proposal

Creating dedicated pedestrian and cycle throughways directly into the heart of the CBD has proven difficult up to this point. At the same time, the city has turned its back and largely forgotten the Rivulet as it makes it way quietly through its forgotten spaces.

In order to suggest an alternative to the long running and problematic discussions in creating a dedicated bike lane on Collins Street, the Rivulet Walk and Bike Way is proposed.

The new Walk and Cycle Way, when combined with the existing Hobart Rivulet Park, would provide an unhindered car free route all the way from the Female Factory site to Harrington Street in the CBD, serving the entire South Hobart area. Forgotten parts of the City would be brought back into use, with economic potential for new uses to spring up along these new edges of activity, especially along the back of Liverpool Street. Additional exit and entry points along the route would provide extra opportunities for connectivity and the Harrington Street entry could be developed as a hub of activity, such as a bike orientated Coffee Shop, with storage facilities. 

it would also represent an amazing oppportunity to join the ‘daylighting’ movement that is helping to bring back and reconnect urban rivers to the cities through which they flow.By encouraging people out of their cars, the health, social and congestion implications are obvious. By re-introducing the City with its river it also provides an opportunity to bring new habitats into the CBD. At a time when ‘transformative’ and ‘game changer’ schemes are being sought to re-shape Hobart as both a City and a community, it is considered that the Rivulet Walk and Bike Way, using a creative approach, could offer one such possibility.