Merri-bek BUG

An update from Kevin Ayrey at the City of Yarra:

Hi All,

Recently I contacted you with notification that improvement works were to be carried out to a section of the Merri Creek shared trail between Rushall Station and High Street bridge during September. Unfortunately these works have been delayed, and will now not take place until mid November. It is expected that the works will take 4 weeks to complete. The delay is due to the need to coordinate with the contractors undertaking the Clifton Rail Duplication Project, who are currently very active in the area, and access to the site is limited by construction vehicle movements.

The adjusted timing of the City of Yarra shared trail works will not impact on the closure requirements and diversions in place for the Clifton Rail Duplication project.

If you have any queries please feel free to contact me via the details below.

Regards,

Kevin Ayrey

Landscape Architect
Open Space Branch

City of Yarra

ph. (03) 9205 5721
fax. (03) 8417 6666
email ayreyk@yarracity.vic.gov.au
mail P O Box 168, Richmond 3121

Monday 15th September is Yarra Bicycle User Group‘s very first Radio show and they are broadcasting live, 10 – 10.30am on 3CR Community Radio 855 AM.

The program intends to promote urban cycling as a viable means of transport; promote Yarra’s cycling conditions; demystify cycling technology; and help reveal the diversity of cyclists around from children, to commuters, to lobbyists.

The full announcement can be read here and more information is at the 3CR website.

A friendly reminder to you all that the Moreland BUG ride is on this Sunday (September 14). It would be great to see more faces from the BUG group turn out for this beautiful ride.

We will be riding to Westerfolds Park, Templestowe along the Yarra Trail and possible to Eltham.

Where: Meet at the Fairfield Boathouse near the cafe along the waterfront (the Boathouse is just off Heidelberg Rd near Panther Place, and right on the Yarra River trail bike path).

Date: Sunday 14 September, 2008

Time: 10:45am for a 11:00am start

Distance: 30 km

Please remember to pack some lunch for the day!

If you’re running late, please feel free to call 0412 574 897 and we can wait for you.

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The linear rail trail (part of the Capital City Trail) runs along the old inner circle railway and part of it runs through the south side of Moreland.

There have been some works on two parts of the trail recently, removing dog legs.

At Lygon St:

Near the intersection of Holtom St W and Solly Ave:

News from Kevin Ayrey, the Open Space Planning Landscape Architect at the City of Yarra:

From around September 1st to 30th the City of Yarra will be carrying out works to improve the shared trail between the footbridge over the creek at Rushall Station, and the East side of the High Street overpass. The works will realign the shared trail and increase the width to 3 metres, as suggested in the Merri Creek Shared Trail Review recently conducted. In particular, it will reduce the steep grades just after the footbridge heading East, and just before going under High street bridge. This will improve safety for all users, and provide a suitable sized path for future users. The area under the bridge will be slightly raised and graded to drain to eliminate the ponding that has occurred hear. The existing path will be removed and revegetated.

The works have been timed to coincide with the Clifton Rail Duplication Works, so that disruption to cycle and pedestrian traffic will be only slightly greater than is in place with current diversions. There will be times during the works when there is no access to this stretch of track. At these times alternative routes will be shown.

I have enclosed an image to give a broad idea of where these works are taking place. We will be working closely with the contractor to minimise disturbance to vegetation outside the proposed path area, and to revegetate where necessary.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any further queries.

Kevin Ayrey
Landscape Architect

Open Space Planning

City of Yarra PO Box 168 Richmond 3121

T (03) 9205 5721 F (03) 8417 6666
E Kevin.Ayrey@yarracity.vic.gov.au
W www.yarracity.vic.gov.au

Those of you who had the pleasure of meeting Huw Vellacott when he ran a bikefix stall at the BUG’s valet parking for the Sydney Rd St Party will be excited to hear that Huw’s bike workshop, Commuter Cycles, has officially opened for business. Commuter Cycles is located at 14 Prentice St, Brunswick – just near Brunswick Station – and focuses on servicing as core business. The workshop opens early and closes late to make it easy for you to drop off your bike on the way to work, grab a courtesy bike to complete your journey and pop back after hours to pick up your finely serviced steed.

Check out the website or pop in and visit Huw between 7:30am and 6:30pm weekdays.

The Main Yarra Trail between Dight’s Falls and the Collingwood Children’s Farm will be closed to pedestrians and cyclists on Wednesday July 30th, between 10am and 4pm.

Sections of the Merri Creek Trail will be closed between early August 2008 and early 2009 for works on the Clifton Hill Rail Project. For details of closures and detours see below:

Merri Creek Trail Temporary Diversions Map – pdf file

Merri Creek Trail Temporary Diversions Map – jpeg file

Here are Questions and Answers about the project + diversions

(Thanks to YarraBUG for this info).

On Monday night, Moreland City Council adopted an amended budget that includes $291,000 for additional cycling infrastructure!

Thanks to everyone who helped in the campaign, including Toby, Rod and Anna who spear-headed the BUG work, the various BUG members who assisted, Bicycle Victoria, councillors and others.

The Moreland Leader has an article on Cr Mark O’Brien’s interpretation of council’s bike (and pedestrian) infrastructure spending and Cr Jo Connelan’s response.

The BUG is encouraging local cyclists to send a letter to The Moreland Leader about O’Brien’s take on council spending and his specific targeting of cyclists for a user-pays approach to infrastructure and safety.

PS. Mark – did you realise that Sustrans is partially funded by donations from local government?