Paula Hanasz avoids travelling down Melbourne’s busy Sydney Road strip at all costs, even though it’s on her doorstep.

The public servant lives in one of a growing number of car-less apartment buildings in Brunswick, in Melbourne’s inner north.

It means she and her family cycle everywhere, including taking their kids to school and kindergarten using the Upfield Bike Path that runs along the train line.

“Not to be car-dependent was an intentional choice for us,” she said.

“Partly for financial reasons – it’s definitely cheaper not to have a car – but also for lifestyle and health reasons.”

But soon enough, she may have no choice but to take on the central artery.

The Victorian government has started the earliest works on the Brunswick Level Crossing Removal Project, which will eventually see the tracks on the Upfield train line which runs parallel to Sydney Road moved above ground.

The project is aimed at reducing congestion and improving road safety, and will deliver a new bike and pedestrian path spanning the suburbs of Coburg and Brunswick.

But a project this complex comes with some temporary inconvenience.

As construction ramps up, the train stations Anstey, Brunswick and Jewell — as well as the bike path that runs alongside them — will probably have to close too, likely for years.

That will leave Ms Hanasz and the hundreds of other cyclists that rely on the bypass each day with few choices but to head back to the bustle of Sydney Road.

It’s a situation that threatens the sense of safety she gets from travelling on dedicated bike paths.

“I do not feel safe having to go onto the roads that do not have a separated bike path,” she said.

The fight to remove car parks

The looming changes have thrust a long-held dream of Melbourne’s cyclists back into the spotlight: taking car parks off Sydney Road and replacing them with separated bike lanes.

“These problems are well known, well documented [and] there have been numerous plans developed.

“Even a trial of separated bike paths would make me feel more confident to ride along Sydney Road with my kids on the back of the bike to and from school and daycare.”

There were 58 crashes involving cyclists on Sydney Road between Bell Street and Brunswick Road in the five years to December 2022, even after safety improvements. 

A cultural hub 

But there are also locals who want to see the car parks preserved.

In the other corner to cyclists are the traders of Sydney Road, which – aside from being a major thoroughfare – claims the title of the Southern Hemisphere’s longest continuous shopping strip.

Every day here, zany retail stores, bridal couture and specialty supermarkets give way to a bustling nightlife when darkness falls.

It’s a combination like nowhere else in Melbourne, meaning people are drawn to the strip from all other parts of the city.

Toby Cogur knows this all too well. He estimates “98 or 99 per cent” of his customers need car parks to visit his function centre for weddings.

“There is limited parking throughout the suburb, so if you were to cut the parking available, the limitations will impact businesses significantly,” he said.

“Not just financially, but psychologically.”

Mr Cogur said a years-long trial of bike lanes would be devastating post-COVID.

“There used to be a buzz because you could walk around and there was something to see everywhere, but now there are so many shops up for lease,” he said.

“With no car parking – if that was to happen – then people won’t be able to come here and businesses would continue shutting down.

“Bikes do use Sydney Road already – there are times when car parking is not allowed, so peak hour traffic allows for bikes. So why fix something that’s not broken?”

Accessible public transport a necessity 

A few doors down from Ms Hanasz lives disability advocate Christian Astourian, a member of the Sydney Road Accessible Tram Stops Now group.

Mr Astourian, who lives with cerebral palsy and uses an electric scooter for mobility, is unhappy that the government is planning to lift the tracks and close the train stations before implementing a viable alternative.

“I am working full time in St Albans, but I rely on the trains to be able to get to work, and every other alternative like taxis are not really going to help,” he said.

“You have to wait more than one hour to get a maxi cab or wheelchair-accessible cab.

“We’ve got low-floor trams here on Sydney Road, but we cannot [board] them because there is no platform at the tram stops.

“We can only look at how beautiful they are.”

Areas including Fitzroy Street in St Kilda and High Street in Northcote already have these accessible stops.

Mr Astourian said if the road surface was not raised to the level of tram floors before Skyrail construction begins, mothers with prams, people with injuries, and the elderly would also be affected.

In a statement, a state government spokesperson said it had already delivered 81 new accessible tram stops across Melbourne – including two on Sydney Road – with 100 more low-floor trams due from 2025.

It did not meet the federal government deadline that all tram stops must be fully accessible by December 31 last year.

A destination or a thoroughfare?

The spokesperson also said there would be alternative routes created if Skyrail construction affected bike path access.

And once it’s finished, there will be four MCGs-worth of open space – about 80,000 square metres – between Parkville and Coburg.

But even after the train line reopens, Paula wants Sydney Road bike lanes and the ground level cycleways.

She said the time had come to choose the road’s future.

“One of the great things about Sydney Road is that it’s a destination,” she said.

“I think the problem we’re seeing right now is that it’s trying to be both things, and it does them poorly. We cannot have both.”