Merri-bek BUG

Convenor: Faith Hunter

Deputy Convenor: Ross Millward

Secretary: Lisa O’Halloran

Treasurer: Rachel Alembakis

Ordinary members: Katie O’Bryan, Rod Callander

We have highly enjoyable social rides every 2nd Wednesday on even weeks.

(See Whats the Current Week Number to see whether we are in an even week.)

Rides start at Moreland Railway station at 10:00am for a 10:10 departure. We are usually back back by 4:27pm.

Bring bike, sunscreen, wet weather gear, water, MYKI, snacks, lunch (and/or money).

Pace will be leisurely depending on requirements of the group.

Join the mailing list for details of the next ride.

Meetings are held on the fourth Thursday of each month except December. The meetings are held at the Edinburgh Castle Hotel (681 Sydney Road, Brunswick – in the dining room next to the courtyard) and all are welcome to attend. Meetings start at 7.00 pm and finish around 9.00 pm. Food and drinks can be purchased before, during and after the meeting.

Join the mailing list for up-to-date information.

Council will be upgrading the Upfield Path in early October.

A 200 metre section between Albion and Tinning Streets will be closed – users will not be able to use the area for the duration of the works. There is a detour some 40 metres to the east via Ilhan Lane.

The linked image shows a map of the detour.

Works are scheduled to start on 7 October and continue for around 5 weeks (weather permitting).

The works will improve the safety and convenience of users by:

• Reducing the steep slope on the approach to Albion Street
• Replacing the fence which has been gradually falling in to the rail reserve
• Building a retaining wall to stabilise the embankment.
• Using asphalt-coloured concrete for stability and longevity.

Lighting is part of the project but has been installed already (May 2013).

Cost of works – $200,000 approx.

Council apologises for any inconvenience.  

Moreland Council contact: Nicholas Elliot, Transport Projects Officer, 9240 1294.

I’m pretty excited by these works. It has been 3 to 4 years in the planning – there have been a number of hold ups due to difficulties of working in a rail reserve. The path has a steep approach down to Albion Street which is difficult, even frightening for inexperienced users, and for the parents of young children. This slope will be much reduced and so manageable by all cyclists and pedestrians. The works will stabilise the embankment which has gradually been slipping away, causing holes in the fencing – another unsettling experience for novice cyclists. The new lighting has already given a dark area a much needed boost and Council has received some compliments on the new ‘look’ and that the lights are low energy LEDs. Together with a new smooth, wider, fully fenced path, the area will receive a welcome urban make-over.

Regards

Nicholas Elliot

News from Nicholas Elliot, Transport Projects Officer at Moreland City Council:

Dear BUGees
Finally, proper bike parking at Barkly Square.
20 bikes can now park right at the front door, in 2 (ex) car bays.
Click this link for a picture of the rails being installed this morning.

The initiative is a partnership between Moreland Council and Barkly Square management. Council convinced them to give it a trial and loaned them our temporary/event parking rails on the condition that they were installed as close to the door as possible. We agreed to conduct surveys to show that they would be well used, that the economic return would be better than if just 2 cars parked there and that there would be no, or a lot less, bike parking opportunistically and cluttering up their entrance or trampling the garden beds. And they had to take away the “Please don’t park your bikes here” banners.

Barkly Square are interested in your feedback, so take a minute to ‘Like’ them on Facebook. They agreed they will supply the bike parking at the end of the trial if it is successful. So this might be an opportunity to convince them to put in the deluxe, roofed, model if they get a good response via social media.

Regards
Nicholas Elliot

News from VicRoads:

Please be advised that VicRoads will be undertaking bridge maintenance works on the Heidelberg Road over Merri Creek from Tuesday 17 July until Friday 3 August 2012 between 7am and 3pm, weather permitting.

There will be some changes to traffic conditions. These include temporary lane closures and reduced speed limit. There will be some delays affecting pedestrians, vehicle traffic and cyclists during these works. Due to these bridge maintenance works, Merri Creek Trail between Heidelberg Road and Walker Street in Northcote will be closed on Tuesday 17 July to Wednesday 18 July and on Thursday 2 August to Friday 3 August 2012 between 8am to 4pm.

During this time all pedestrians and cyclists travelling towards St Georges Road will be diverted along Heidelberg Road Bridge, from Cunningham Street to Walker Street.

Signs have placed around the area advising pedestrians and cyclists of the detour. For more detour details refer to the detour map (PDF file).

The works have been designed so that residential amenity and business will not be adversely affected. It should be noted however that there may be minor noise associated with these bridge works.

Access to residential and business properties will remain available at all times and if restricted, for any reason, will be made available upon request to traffic controllers on site.

VicRoads regret any inconvenience caused while these essential bridge repairs are undertaken.

Should you have any queries regarding these bridge works, please contact Nusrat Islam from VicRoads on 03 9313 1366 (during business hours only).

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Works affecting traffic on the Upfield Shared Path
Brunswick Baths
16 July – 28 July, 2012
Between 9 am and 3:30 pm

Please be aware that works on the wall abutting the bike path are required as part of the renovations to the Brunswick Baths.

The path will NOT be closed but will be narrowed on the wall side so that cyclists going in opposite directions will not be able to cycle past each other. The sections of closure are short (around 10m) and works will only occur between the morning and evening peaks; and not every day (e.g. outside painting is weather dependent).

Please stop and/or give way if necessary and exercise patience and care.

There may be short delays; it may be an inconvenience; so allow extra time for your journey if you have a deadline to meet.

If you have any questions or problems, please email or call Nicholas Elliot (p: 9240 1294), or Gordon Blake, Traffic Engineer (p: 9240 1155).

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As many of you would know, a riders rally is planned for next Thursday, June 21 to protest against the Baillieu Government’s decision to cut the Victorian bike budget to zero.

Bicycle Network Victoria and various BUGs are organising the event and the estimate is that there’ll be 3-4000 riders there on the day.

The rally is from 7.30 am to 8.30 am in front of Parliament House.

If you are not happy with the Baillieu Goverment’s decision, make your voice heard and come along to the rally. You can make your way into the city at your own leisure or join one of the organised rides. More details on the rally and various meeting points and times for rides can be found here.

Moreland BUG member Tim Read is organising a ride to the rally from Brunswick. We meet at Cafe L’Amour, 76 Lygon St. (next to Gelobar), Brunswick East at 7am and ride in together along Canning St.

And Anna has set up a Facebook event and so far 72 people are going. You can join here.

While some elements of the rally are still on the drawing board, a rough run sheet for the morning currently looks like this:

0730 – rally starts, Victorian Parliament steps, Spring St, Melbourne
0745 – we plan to unfurl a fabric bike path to symbolise the types of facilities that will now not be possible with zero funding. This “path” can be passed around overhead or perhaps symbolically laid!!
0815 – speech and pics
0830 – event ends

Hopefully we will have a good turn out so make sure you are coming along!

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Update: due to the bad weather, tonight’s ride has been cancelled!

The next Moreland BUG ride is the ANZAC Glow Stick Ride and the details are as follows:

Date: Wednesday, 25 April 2012

When & Where to meet: 7pm in front of the Noise Bar (on the corner of the Upfield Path and Albert Street, Brunswick)

Description: Ride to the Espy (Hotel Esplanade) in St. Kilda via St. Kilda Road and enjoy free live music, drinks and good company.

Make sure to lighten up your bike with usual or unusual lighting devices!

If you have any questions send an email to secretary@morelandbug.org.

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