I used to do that route in peak hour, and your right, it's deadly.
You haven't got a whole lot of choices have you? Sussex Street is murder, and out of the road..Elizabeth St..noooo!.. leaves Castlereagh St?! If you make it as far as the Fire Station you should be all right, just watch it at the corners...
Anyone know of a route from King St back to Central station that won't see me killed ?
Two words - "Bus Lane"!
I'm not sure exactly what bus lanes there are in that area, but I used to commute down parts of George st on a bus lane and it was great. You have to share with the buses and the taxis, but generally they are fairly light (traffic wise that is 🙂
Beware of any "Bus Only Lanes" (if there are any in the CBD - not sure if there are) as bikes are NOT allowed in these.
Did this tonight, even stopping at all the red lights I managed to get down to Central station in about 12 minutes.
I think I wore every red-light except one, so it takes roughly the same time to ride from Cnr King & George across to Castlereagh, then down to Central as it does to walk to Town Hall station and catch the metro one stop.
It was a bit daunting riding amongst the cars & buses but when I realised I could accelerate much faster than a bus (even carrying laptop bag) I kind of found some idiot-confidence.