Eastlink Path Upgrade: No Pain, No Gain?
While improvements are being made to the Dandenong Creek Trail along Eastlink, cyclists will need a mountain bike to get through the detour. The trouble is, not all commuters ride mountain bikes…
As part of the Eastlink development, a section of the Dandenong Creek
trial is being upgraded to form part of the shared path associated with
the Mitcham to Frankston tollway (as I mentioned last year).
A short section of the bitumen path east of Boronia road was resurfaced
a couple of months ago and this is very nice (thank you very much!) Now
the major works on the Dandenong Creek trail has commenced this week.
The construction works involve replacing the existing gravel path
between Boronia Road and the Koomba Park Boardwalk with a concrete path.
This will greatly improve this section of the trail and I am really
looking forward to riding the upgrade.
However, it will bring some inconvenience to cyclists and pedestrains
during construction.
According to a Southern and Eastern Integrated
Transport Authority (SEITA) Communications Officer:
To construct the shared use path as part of the EastLink project, Thiess
John Holland (the construction contractors of EastLink) will be required to
divert some of the paths around the construction site. These paths will not
be closed and cyclists and pedestrians will still be able to use them.
However, you will need to observe the necessary shared use path diversion
signs and follow the designated routes, which will be highlighted via
signage, around the construction sites.
So at least Thiess John Holland are providing detours, but as you can
see from these images, the detours are of such poor quality that the
expectation is cyclists should dismount and walk the current 2.5km
(approx) detour—yeah right!
Thiess John Holland have patched up the
worst parts of the detour so it is rideable but it is already starting
to get chopped up and if we get a bit of rain it will quickly turn into
a quagmire at the Eastern end—which is just an old grass/dirt 4WD track.
More concerning is the detours will only be available for part of the
construction phase of the new shared path, and for a period of three
week the trail will be completely closed!!
Now this is going to be a
major inconvenience since my fellow commuters and I regularly ride to work on this route.
Although signage advising alternate routes is promised, there are few
options for these routes and most will involve cycling on major roads
(Boronia Road and Mountain Hwy) or traversing the many (steep) hills and
dales of Vermont (eg. via Morack Rd).
While I’m look forward to the end result, the coming weeks will be trying
and difficult riding. Hopefully the weather will hold and the shared
path upgrade will run ahead of schedule.
And then the drought can break :-)
More on a similar topic
- Posted by Doc Homebrew at 08:54 pm
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Update: As predicted, the eastern end of the detour has turned into a quagmire after the rain we had in Melbourne last week!! But bouquets to Thiess John Holland as gravel has been spread over this part of the 4WD drive track detour over the past couple of days. Whilst this surface is a bit loose and soft to ride on, it is much better than the chopped up slush that was almost unrideable earlier in the week.
Bike path construction rolls on…… Just received this email from Thiess John Holland: Please be advised that as of Friday 15 June, the Koomba Park carpark on Boronia Road (melways Map 63 D4/5) and the main trail between Boronia Road and Mountain Highway will be closed for three weeks while the remainder of the new shared use path is constructed.
Signage will be posted advising of the closure dates as well as suggested detour routes for cyclists.
Unfortunately the detour routes suggested involve traveling on busy major roads (Wantirna Rd & Mountain Hwy) with limited bike lane or off-road options. Oh well, at least it’s only for a few weeks – no pain, no gain!