Perth Waterfront

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rolandp
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby rolandp » Fri Jun 13, 2014 8:26 am

To add to Colin's post, this is what is occurring:
Image

Image

Image

I don't know if it is a new standard for shared paths, as certainly a lot of the PSP do not have it, but looks like a good thing.

My concern is that is technically reducing the width of the path, as they are cutting it smaller to lay the concrete edging.

Wish that they going to this much effort, they would install over head lighting at the same time.

jonhanson
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby jonhanson » Fri Jun 13, 2014 10:46 am

Thanks guys for the explanation. Yeah it is a concern that the rideable part of the path is getting thinner as it isn't a very wide path at the best of times.

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ColinOldnCranky
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Fri Jun 13, 2014 4:56 pm

jonhanson wrote:Thanks guys for the explanation. Yeah it is a concern that the rideable part of the path is getting thinner as it isn't a very wide path at the best of times.
Yep- And that cooch that Roland shows started popping up within six months. I don't expect the curbing to keep it out (the curbing would need to go deeper than 300mm to do so) but it may make the underside a little drier and less comfortable for it.

The history of that stretch shows a variety of good intentions, bad decistions and good decisions over the years.

Building frmm my vague observations, dicussions with workers and contractors and the odd phone call, it is something like this
  • There used to be a path all the way along the river wall to Plain Street, East Perth. (1980s)
  • Most of the river wll path was torn up and the meandering path we have been discussing was constructed in it's place. However they left most of the river-wall road base and simply top dressed it and let the grass grow. So over the years the grass did not grow well at all due to poor drainage during storms (I'm guessing). So the grass grew very badly and lots of loos rubble came to the surface/erosion etc, and they ceased any meaningful maintenance on the actual wall.
  • They reintroduced the river wall path, doing some much need repairs to the river wall in the process. They laid a good base and were, I guess, running on schedule. But the Swan River Trust then delayed by many months the laying of hotmix over the road base. They were concerned about runoff hot-mix when it is melted during construction (in that state it's basically oil).
  • With the delays which were affecting events including the Air Race they had to dump heaps of sand to protect the base and to protect themselves from public liability. More complications
  • They cleared the sand away, got the river wall path done but retained the meandering path as dual use. I was initially told that it was intended to be bike-only. IMO they were right not to encourage fast traffic along it with a dedicated bike path. Tourist/pedestrian hazards
  • They did a pretty solid effort to relay the winding path. Beeeeeeautiful!
  • Cooch started doing it's thing very quickly and encroaching in short time anywhere up to 150mm. (See Rolands pics above.) The cooch is even lifting the surface in places like tree roots do.
  • Now adding curbing.
Somewhere in among all this Perth City Council developed a fantastic reticulation and recycling system to stop feeding algal blooms in the river with nitrogen rich runoff. That involved a lot of ripping up of lawn and bitument etc. (The wetlands at Fraser Point were constructed to take the returning water, letting nature do it's cleaning thing before returning those those reclaimed nutrients into the reticulation to keep Langley Park well grassed.) Using the lessons from the PCC, every golf course in WA should now be compelled to do the same.

Overall I think they have, by accident or design, arrived at a pretty good place.

It is a thin track as you say. But I doubt they have any intent to make it wider/straighter/faster for cyclists. Even though peds have their own path the environs really are the sort of park space that people amble across in a daze. I am sometimes concerned when we get good morning easterlies. There seems to be an over-representation of e-bikers coming in from the east and they really do motor along there when the summer easterlies are in their back. Which is the time when strangers to the city are about watching for birds, taking happy snaps of dolphins and generally waking up. More than a few non-e-bike cyclists could also rethink their need to shave off a little time along there.

It's not a good look when a city returns visitors home on a gurney or in a body bag. :cry:
Unchain yourself-Ride a unicycle

jonhanson
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby jonhanson » Sat Jun 14, 2014 3:40 pm

Thanks for the history Colin. V interesting. It's neat though how we have a separated walk and (semi) cycle path on both north and south of the river in Perth - south is better delineated but north still works well separating cyclists and peds most of the time. I was riding today on the bike path south of the river ( was it melville? ) can't remember exactly where and noticed they'd done the same thing with the concrete edging there too.

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ColinOldnCranky
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Sat Jun 14, 2014 8:13 pm

jonhanson wrote:Thanks for the history Colin. V interesting. It's neat though how we have a separated walk and (semi) cycle path on both north and south of the river in Perth - south is better delineated but north still works well separating cyclists and peds most of the time. I was riding today on the bike path south of the river ( was it melville? ) can't remember exactly where and noticed they'd done the same thing with the concrete edging there too.
I'm guessing around Alfred Cove and amybe the eastern end of Attadale. These are places where the earth can hold water for a long time, expecially the wetlands areas.

The sealed shoulders of our major roads and freeways are another way. THese are mostly put in place in order to protect the main portion of the road from degradation of the road base. The damage is then largely limited to road that does not carry the volumes and loads and so does not break up like the traffic lanes would if more exposed to water underneath. That they can be used as emergency stopping lanes is a bonus. They are also OK for bikes which do not apply significant loads.
Unchain yourself-Ride a unicycle

wellington_street
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby wellington_street » Sun Jun 15, 2014 4:04 pm

Cycle lanterns have finally gone up at Barrack St/The Esplanade intersection. Only 3? 4? months late.

Talks_to_Swans
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby Talks_to_Swans » Mon Jun 16, 2014 10:50 am

I noticed the cycle lanterns this morning. It was very welcome and gave me a big smile for the rest of the ride in.

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rolandp
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby rolandp » Mon Jun 16, 2014 10:19 pm

The West has an update video on this project.

Talks_to_Swans
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby Talks_to_Swans » Tue Dec 30, 2014 11:53 am

I noticed yesterday that the new shared path along the Esplanade is a lot narrower than the minimum 2m where it meets Barrack Street. This morning I was lucky to meet one of the City of Perth's highway engineers at the intersection who said that he was aware of the problem caused by the 1.6m width and that the current layout was only a temporary solution, both ends of the path are due to have proper tarmac ramps from the pavement to the road level.
Hopefully this will happen before next Monday when it will get really busy. Until then I've just got to remember to go slowly and give priority to those getting onto the crossing.

nachoman
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby nachoman » Wed Nov 23, 2016 9:11 pm

The path east of the Narrows alongside the river and Riverside Drive is being redone up to the T-Junction underpass. A few weeks ago it looked like a whole new section was being constructed, and part of the existing route widened. There is currently a detour in place through the lakes.

https://goo.gl/maps/YcbNd99Mrg82

nachoman
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby nachoman » Thu Dec 07, 2017 12:56 pm

I'm commuting from the south for a couple of weeks. There is a variable message board on the south end of the northbound Narrows Bridge announcing a detour for 11/12 and 12/12. I assume it is for the bridge and the detour will be to use the southbound bridge.

Scott_C
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby Scott_C » Thu Dec 07, 2017 3:57 pm

In theory any information about a path closure on the Narrows Bridge should appear on the Main Roads WA website here: https://www.mainroads.wa.gov.au/UsingRo ... nance.aspx

You can call them on 138 138 or send an email to enquiries@mainroads.wa.gov.au to find out what is going on and why they haven't published it.

nachoman
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby nachoman » Mon Jan 15, 2018 6:33 pm

Camel tours now running along the Riverside Drive path from Elizabeth Quay
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bc6zE1AAmru/

Scott_C
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby Scott_C » Tue Jan 16, 2018 12:10 am

nachoman wrote:Camel tours now running along the Riverside Drive path from Elizabeth Quay
At least it just runs from 10am to 1pm so it isn't there during the commuting peaks but it is interesting how something that is seemingly illegal (it is legal under the Road Traffic Code to ride an animal on a footpath but seems to be illegal on any other form of path like a shared path. See Rule 253 for details) gets promoted by the City of Perth and the Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency.

I guess they better just hope that there isn't a collision on the shared path within the road reserve or it could end up a very messy situation.

XIX
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby XIX » Wed Jan 17, 2018 1:06 pm

I haven't seen the Camel's on the bike path, only on the river edge path. I live on the river so will keep an eye out, but I ride that path multiple times a week and have yet to been effected by the Camels, they are no where near as much of an issue as the 4 seater bikes that 'drive' along that path :lol:

Scott_C
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby Scott_C » Wed Jan 17, 2018 8:08 pm

XIX wrote:I haven't seen the Camel's on the bike path, only on the river edge path.
From the Camel West website:
Image

In this photo they are just outside the road reserve but about 5m further along the path and they would be in the road reserve on a marked shared path. There isn't a better option for them through here and it is only a short distance but it does seem to be technically illegal and a bit of an annoyance considering the lack of a safe East-West cycling route through the city.

redned
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby redned » Thu Jan 18, 2018 2:09 pm

This stretch is full of other path users and I ride here accordingly.
The worst thing about the camel rides is the price: $45 for 30 mins.

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ColinOldnCranky
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby ColinOldnCranky » Sat Jan 20, 2018 6:54 pm

I was sitting for a rest on the river wall just south of the Mill oint road flyover. A coupld of riders went around me (My unicycleprojects a bout a foot from the base of the wall so a couple of riders moved across, single file, a little to the right of the middle of their northbound lane.

A couple of riders were riding south on their soutbound lane and some idiot, quite nicely mind you, shouts "keep left ladies". NO malice and he may even think that it was a good social interaction.

But he was riding ridiculously fast and the whole situation was clear to everyone - my intrusion, the two riders heading north, the two riders heading south, and the speeds of all concerned. It would ahve just required a small difference in location of timing and there could easily have been a head on crash between bikes closing at around 45-60kph.

So I'm happy to share the path with three well controlled camels. They are far better citizens than some of the idiots that walk on two legs.
Unchain yourself-Ride a unicycle

XIX
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Re: Perth Waterfront

Postby XIX » Wed Jan 24, 2018 4:34 pm

Scott_C wrote:
XIX wrote:I haven't seen the Camel's on the bike path, only on the river edge path.
From the Camel West website:
Image

In this photo they are just outside the road reserve but about 5m further along the path and they would be in the road reserve on a marked shared path. There isn't a better option for them through here and it is only a short distance but it does seem to be technically illegal and a bit of an annoyance considering the lack of a safe East-West cycling route through the city.
Sorry, but this isn't the bike path, I try not to ride this section as it is full of all sorts. I have never seen them on the actual bike path section with starts a bit further East of this photo.

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