IS the west's main cycling artery clogged? Footscray Road, which serves as a conduit funnelling cyclists from the western suburbs into the city, could be suffering a coronary disease with dangerous sections limiting the number of people willing to use it.

Despite a recent state government announcement that VicRoads will spend $475,000 on improving an intersection where the bike path crosses the service road, cyclists have labelled the road an exercise in poor design that is endangering the lives of riders who use it and putting off would-be bike commuters.

Growth in numbers using that stretch has plateaued after initial surges. The annual "Super Tuesday" event counted 406 cyclists using Footscray Road at Shepherd Bridge in the morning peak in 2007.

It jumped to 581 in 2008 before dropping to 577 last year.

In the five years to December last year, there were seven bicycle crashes on Footscray Road, including one fatality and one serious injury.

Melbourne Bicycle Users Group spokesman Nik Dow, who uses the route regularly, said there were multiple problems with the path as a result of a lack of attention to detail in design. "All along Footscray Road and into the Docklands area the traffic has been given slip lanes to turn left so the motorists don't have to stop and that's where pedestrians and bikes are expected to cross. It's like they've designed it to kill as many people as possible."

"[State governments] have been working on it for 20 years and it's an indictment of bike planning in Victoria."

Cyclist Hugh Harvey said that despite the population boom in the west and surge in cycling numbers, they were a low priority "in any and every single development along the Footscray Road path with not a single exception".

"In over 15 years of commuting along the road, the only work completed on the bike path has seen the capability reduced for cyclists while literally billions of dollars have been spent on improving traffic flow on all of these roads for cars and trucks."