M4 Safety Alert Thread

Hergest
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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby Hergest » Sat Feb 18, 2017 8:04 pm

Heads up for those out this way that ride between Guildford and Merrylands stations en route to the M4. A section of path has been dug up for repair. It needed repair as the hot weather had turned it into a ramp but at the moment it's a big puddle of mud so care need to be taken. It's roughly half way between the 2 stations.

The closed section of path at Harris Park is still closed but things look to be moving towards a finish of the widening that end so fingers crossed the paths are all back to normal sooner rather than later. The same up at Holroyd sportsground too.
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Hergest
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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby Hergest » Fri Feb 24, 2017 9:06 am

6 days later and it's still a hole in the ground with no way around it. Poor planning on Parra council's part as it could have been dug up and relaid in one day.
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Hergest
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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby Hergest » Fri Mar 10, 2017 8:46 am

March the 10th. Still a muddy hole.
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march83
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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby march83 » Fri Aug 18, 2017 11:48 am

So I rode the m4 eastbound for the first time in ages today. I got to Church St where the exit gate for cyclists is and I couldn't open it - has this been vandalised, or intentionally disabled by westconnex?

As it was, I just continued down the Church St off ramp and rode across Church St which was actually a pretty good way to go, truth be told.

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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby Hergest » Sat Aug 19, 2017 11:13 am

It might be related to the underpass close to there which is still closed but looks to be ready for reopening any day now.
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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby Bunged Knee » Sat Aug 19, 2017 1:02 pm

^^ march83 meant that was on M4 to Church St eastbound.
I rode thru that spot years ago.
This is the spot that cyclists are supposed to go thru that gate.
Image

Report it to RMS/council or RortConnex M4. And if you are thru there again, take a pic and file a complaint.
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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby recumbenteer » Mon Aug 21, 2017 8:30 pm

Has there been any new timeframe established, or notification made, for the re-opening of the M4 path from High St, Harris Park to Good St., Granville???.... :?

START RANT!!!!
This was to have been "supposedly" re-opened in ....Quote "Late 2016"......

well here we are nearly NINE .... thats NINE *BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING* MONTHS later !!!!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:


I'm fed up!! :evil: :evil:


.......they've damn well opened the bloody road above it, :evil: :evil:


and we're STILL getting the *BAN ME AGAIN*... short straw......


RANT!! RANT!!!
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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby Bunged Knee » Mon Aug 21, 2017 9:26 pm

^^ Say What???
Haven`t ridden thru there yet but given up due to cr@p bollocks closure,so used the PVC a lot of times to Parra.

That`s a disappointing behaviour to Rortconnex to stuff the cycling routes.

I took this pic from near High St in June`15. Don`t know if it is opened yet.
Image
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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby march83 » Mon Aug 21, 2017 10:21 pm

they're doing landscaping and remediation all through that section at the moment. I don't think it can be too far away.

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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby Hergest » Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:00 pm

march83 wrote:they're doing landscaping and remediation all through that section at the moment. I don't think it can be too far away.

Wouldn't be too bad if they were making a bit of extra effort after the long delay but nothing is being done on the weekends so it's monday to friday, 7 till 3 with probably a skeleton crew judging by the lack of progress.
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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby tez001 » Sun Sep 10, 2017 10:19 am

The part near Holroyd Sportsground has been reopened.

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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby unbent » Sun Sep 10, 2017 2:08 pm

tez001 wrote:The part near Holroyd Sportsground has been reopened.
Woot !

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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby RideLikeTheWind » Mon Oct 02, 2017 8:29 pm

Never mind that they've closed the road from Penrith east and west, from Mulgoa Rd to Mamre Rd, until 2020. And the only way around adds at least 5km of hills. Not great for the commute.
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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby tez001 » Sun Oct 15, 2017 10:42 am

Section from Harris Park has reopened too

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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby march83 » Sun Oct 15, 2017 11:50 am

RideLikeTheWind wrote:Never mind that they've closed the road from Penrith east and west, from Mulgoa Rd to Mamre Rd, until 2020. And the only way around adds at least 5km of hills. Not great for the commute.
I'm not forced to ride through there much at the moment, but I've been a regular in the past. The detours are roughly an additional 3km if you're just interested in thoroughfare and the detours in place are much better than what the construction company originally proposed. Of course, the detours are much hillier and there is no wind tunnel benefit to enjoy so they add a lot more time.

The fastest option IMO is to just ride the shoulder to the northern road exits, ride up the exit ramp and then cross the northern road at the top directly onto the on ramp. I'm pretty sure this can be done at the moment without forcing you into the motorway lanes.

The best option i think is to avoid the area entirely. I've been riding through the back streets of Penrith, Kingswood and Caddens areas to cut out the motorway entirely between Russell St and Kent Rd - you can get off the highway at Springwood or Warrimoo or Blaxland and take non-motorway routes all the way to Kent Rd which are much more pleasant and much less likely to give you punctures.

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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby Hergest » Sun Oct 15, 2017 2:49 pm

tez001 wrote:Section from Harris Park has reopened too
Has that only just been opened? I've been overseas for 6 weeks and was hoping that it would have been completed by my return. This morning I rode through after getting home yesterday and found it open but thought it must have been a few weeks. If it was for the first time today (for the Spring Cycle event maybe) then it's taken them an enormous amount of time to get it finished. A year overdue in fact which is rather pathetic.
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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby tez001 » Sun Oct 15, 2017 5:21 pm

Hergest wrote: Has that only just been opened? I've been overseas for 6 weeks and was hoping that it would have been completed by my return. This morning I rode through after getting home yesterday and found it open but thought it must have been a few weeks. If it was for the first time today (for the Spring Cycle event maybe) then it's taken them an enormous amount of time to get it finished. A year overdue in fact which is rather pathetic.
It has only been reopened in the past week as I went past is last Sunday and it was still closed off. So I guess it was the Spring Cycle which expedited the opening of it.

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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby march83 » Sun Oct 15, 2017 6:06 pm

It was still closed as of last wednesday however the formwork for a fresh path was in place. I guess they did a quick pour on thursday/friday and had it ready for the weekend. I imagine a rush job like that will be of the highest quality, right?

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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby Hergest » Mon Oct 16, 2017 9:33 am

And it's back to being closed as of this Monday morning......
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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby recumbenteer » Fri Oct 20, 2017 1:36 pm

Hergest wrote:And it's back to being closed as of this Monday morning......
yep... only opened for Spring Cycle... back to crap as "BAN ME NOW FOR SWEARING" usual :evil:
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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby march83 » Fri Oct 20, 2017 1:50 pm

Seems like they're working on the drainage and landscaping. But there must only be like 1 guy doing all the work because it's taking an eternity.

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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby g-boaf » Sun Oct 29, 2017 1:54 pm

march83 wrote:Seems like they're working on the drainage and landscaping. But there must only be like 1 guy doing all the work because it's taking an eternity.
Hope they'll finish it soon enough, the diversion yesterday must have had every motorist in Sydney around there, all in a hurry. :roll:

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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby Warin » Sun Oct 29, 2017 5:25 pm

march83 wrote:Seems like they're working on the drainage and landscaping. But there must only be like 1 guy doing all the work because it's taking an eternity.
Would that be all they can get past the locked gates? :evil:

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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby hairyfoots » Fri Nov 10, 2017 9:41 am

march83 wrote:
RideLikeTheWind wrote:Never mind that they've closed the road from Penrith east and west, from Mulgoa Rd to Mamre Rd, until 2020. And the only way around adds at least 5km of hills. Not great for the commute.
The detours are roughly an additional 3km if you're just interested in thoroughfare and the detours in place are much better than what the construction company originally proposed. Of course, the detours are much hillier and there is no wind tunnel benefit to enjoy so they add a lot more time.
How much time does this add, compared to your original time say?

I found this letter about another project: https://www.pcs.nsw.edu.au/images/PDFs/ ... _Final.pdf which says they are going to close the M4 from Prospect Highway to Mamre Road for two years as well. And that particulary project (M4 smart motorways) has other stages up and down the M4, so there are going to be heaps of closures. It seems wrong to me.... There must be a way to get bikes past the works.
And while they're doing all this widening and 'upgrading', why don't they include a cycleway? They cost a pittance compared to the same length of road lane. Apparently shaving 5 minutes off a car trip is worth spending billions, but saving cyclist time is not.

/rant... I suppose those who have cycled for longer than me have learnt to be sanguine about these things.

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Re: M4 Safety Alert Thread

Postby march83 » Fri Nov 10, 2017 11:59 am

Westbound: Currently I'm going on the south side of the M4 through Orchard Hills and Glenmore Park then rejoining at Mulgoa Rd. It's adding ~15 minutes. The detour is pretty average - the rolling hills in Orchard Hills from the M4 to Northern Road are slow, there is no shoulder, there is speeding traffic who are mostly rat-running to try to avoid the Northern Rd off ramp traffic jam. I would feel much safer on the M4 shoulder.

Eastbound: I'm getting off the highway at Blaxland and using Mitchell's Pass, Victoria Bridge and then backroads through Penrith towards the hospital. Then Kingswood, around the uni, Caddens Rd and back on the 4. Probably 20 minutes extra there and again it's horrible having to deal with traffic through Penrith, passing lots of parked cars especially around the hospital and I'd rather just be on the M4.

Totally agree - why they can't just budget for a decent cycleway like the M7 has? Providing the GWH as the detour is terrible, added to which they expect cyclists to travel up and down Mamre Rd? Prospect Hwy? Look at the 2 right hand turns necessary to access the GWH from the M4 westbound a Prospect Highway! Ridiculous! And the GWH has no bike lane, few sections with shoulders, lots of light and hills and trucks and other traffic. Disgusting.

FWIW, I have ~15yrs of rolling up and down the M4 for work in my legs and I'm definitely anything but accepting of this sort of stuff!

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