Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Looks like the work that started before winter is now restarting. The sign says PSP closed 21/11 - 21/12, detours in place. Seems a very long time to resurface 900m of pathway. For what it's worth, the whole of Sydney Harbour Bridge was resurfaced in one weekend without total closure.

That what you get with private contractor v govt initiatives...

ramp wrote: For what it's worth, the whole of Sydney Harbour Bridge was resurfaced in one weekend without total closure.

Yeah but we are in Perth. We don't work on weekends. Does seem like a really long time. Hope they do a really good job of it.

I ride that strip every working day without fail. Did I miss something? I was not aware that they had started anything other than the packing/rolling of the shoulders and that was only to reduce damage arising from service vehicles.

I have seen signs about some forthcoming detouring. But are we sure that there is going to be resurfacing? The recent main roads update has no mention. http://www.bwa.org.au/file/Mains%20Road ... 202012.pdf

If there are any works is it described somewhere? 'cos it need a little more than just resurfacing imo. Widening would be welcome. Ditto addressing the subsidence at the Mends Street flyover.

Roland? Where are you?

Have a look at mainroads. - Http://www.mainroads.wa.gov.au/UsingRoa ... nance.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Repairs to river wall but looks like you guys get a new section as a result.

Muchos 'bligeous Roland.

I use the Hardy St overpass at least once a week so I can look forward to it without consternation. I trust that everyone else passing me will be charitable as I wobble and wander over it.

As the works you have directed us to do not expand to anything else then I am assuming that, despite this threads description, there is nothing further. Those works are still welcome, especially as I have to go well to the left to the lumpy bits as I am so much slower than everyone else.

You are a true legend Roland. Much obliged.

Thanks RolandP, river wall resto is a little more substantial than some new tarmac. Looking forward to a smoother (and wider?) path though. I withdraw my cynical tone from the original post. Too many "Wait Awhile" experiences have made me quick to call.

ramp wrote:For what it's worth, the whole of Sydney Harbour Bridge was resurfaced in one weekend without total closure.

Umm, not quite, it took 3 separate weekdown shutdowns to complete and it was only the main deck that was resurfaced, not the whole thing. During the works the entire main deck was closed to traffic as well, with detours operating.

rolandp wrote:Have a look at mainroads. - Http://www.mainroads.wa.gov.au/UsingRoa ... nance.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Repairs to river wall but looks like you guys get a new section as a result.

Nice of MRWA to schedule the works a few hours earlier to ensure that afternoon/evening users are unaffected.

I can't wait to hear the tolerant and understanding comments of drivers experiencing riders between Hardy/Lyall and Mill Point Road travelling along Labouchere Road. I may have to set my radio to Howard Sattler.

According to the Main Roads blurb the works are being done early to avoid "wave action" from the Freo Doctor.

Silly me - I should know better than thinking MRWA did something to make it easier for cyclists

ColinOldnCranky wrote:I can't wait to hear the tolerant and understanding comments of drivers experiencing riders between Hardy/Lyall and Mill Point Road travelling along Labouchere Road.

Amen to that. I'm not sure how bikes are supposed to get across Labouchere from Lyall onto Mends. Sounds like a recipe for disaster unless they put in temporary lights or something.

At least the journey home will be normal.

Note that the main roads site is careful to say that the resurfacing will be possible in the future, not actually happening as part of this closure.

This morning 21Nov the path was still open. There has been a bit of stuff delivered in the last few days around the underpass and some sand bags. Perhaps it will shut down sometime during the day.

While the direct route will be left out of out of Bowman, Lyall or hardy street onto labouchere Rd and down to the Narrows I can see someone coing to grief around Mill Point Road with the bulk of traffic turning left and expecting everyone else to be doing the same. It almost makes more sense to cross over at Mends Street and head down to the river.

Has anyone scoped out the routes? Are there any detour signs up already?

Ramp - how about retitling your original post to something like "Kwinana PSP Works-South Perth River Wall" or "Kwinana PSP Works-Mill Point Rd River Wall" or similar. That will then cause it to be listed in the index correctly too.

I spoke to the person at the gate and he seemed to think that the gates will only be closed between 7:30 am to 3:30 pm and open the rest of the time. The closure is only for the river wall and not for resurfacing and will last for about six weeks.

dampier wrote:I spoke to the person at the gate and he seemed to think that the gates will only be closed between 7:30 am to 3:30 pm and open the rest of the time.

If that happens, it would be fantastic (for me anyway as I'm going north before 0730). Hope the guy was speaking the truth. Guess we'll find out over the next few days.

Edit: Gate was still open at 6:10 am this morning (Thurs) when I went through.

The gates were closed at 7:20am this morning. There were literally hundreds of cyclists all clumped together at the intersection of Labouchere and Mill Point. No signs any where guiding cyclists along the detour route (there is one, apparently). Spoke to a guy from Main Roads who was adamant there were signs in place. I didn't see any this morning. Will take my GoPro for the ride tomorrow as it was insane to see this spontaneous critical mass ride with hundreds of cyclists along Labouchere Rd.

dampier wrote:I spoke to the person at the gate and he seemed to think that the gates will only be closed between 7:30 am to 3:30 pm and open the rest of the time. The closure is only for the river wall and not for resurfacing and will last for about six weeks.

This morning i had planned my commute to try and make it through before 07h00....unfortunately the detour was already in place by 06h40!

elStado wrote:The gates were closed at 7:20am this morning. There were literally hundreds of cyclists all clumped together at the intersection of Labouchere and Mill Point. No signs any where guiding cyclists along the detour route (there is one, apparently). Spoke to a guy from Main Roads who was adamant there were signs in place. I didn't see any this morning. Will take my GoPro for the ride tomorrow as it was insane to see this spontaneous critical mass ride with hundreds of cyclists along Labouchere Rd.

The detour is via Mends St to the foreshore, not via Labouchere/Mill Point. It's listed on the MRWA website and was posted in this thread before. Hopefully it's followed up with signs asap.

I assume the reason Mends Street was nominated is to avoid the situation where heaps of cyclists need to get into the far right lane at the freeway entrance when both lanes of traffic are slowly trying to get on the freeway.

wellington_street wrote:

elStado wrote:The gates were closed at 7:20am this morning. There were literally hundreds of cyclists all clumped together at the intersection of Labouchere and Mill Point. No signs any where guiding cyclists along the detour route (there is one, apparently). Spoke to a guy from Main Roads who was adamant there were signs in place. I didn't see any this morning. Will take my GoPro for the ride tomorrow as it was insane to see this spontaneous critical mass ride with hundreds of cyclists along Labouchere Rd.

The detour is via Mends St to the foreshore, not via Labouchere/Mill Point. It's listed on the MRWA website and was posted in this thread before. Hopefully it's followed up with signs asap.

I assume the reason Mends Street was nominated is to avoid the situation where heaps of cyclists need to get into the far right lane at the freeway entrance when both lanes of traffic are slowly trying to get on the freeway.

It is not the best signed but for regulars it is probably adequate.

Fromthe south it directs us to cross labouchere and head to Perth Water via Mends Street. I would love toahve shares in the coffee places there.

A lot are taking the more direct route along Labouchere to the Narrows. It is far more efficient but there is the possibility (probability?!) that someone will, over the next couple of months, get caught by a left turning car or jammed in the middle somewhere. Be careful out there guys.

Anyway, any change is good for a while. I usually only get to ride around that area in the arvos and weekends.

Gates were shut this morning at 6:30.

Main Roads updated their website a few days ago, the closure times used to be 7:30am to 3:30pm weekdays and has been given a start at 5am. They've also changed the detours for north and southbound riders, as like you are now experiencing.
http://www.mainroads.wa.gov.au/UsingRoa ... nance.aspx

The website is one thing, the actual closure time has been about 06:10-ish up till now. Guys were getting through at 06:00 no problems.

I am just too late to get through so have been diverting by the Preston St freeway overpass, Coode St and then west round the foreshore to the Narrows. A bit longer but it avoids Labouchere completely. Coode is fairly quiet and has a marked bike lane.

This detour is really bothering me. A whole month is such a long time and the detour is rather inconvenient, especially the "official" detour which goes down Mends St.

I got up in a huff about it and e-mailed main roads a while back. I got an apologetic reply from the pedestrian and cycling co-ordinator (maybe he reads the forums?) saying it's the contractor's fault because there will be machinery moving rocks and other materials. Also he said we're lucky that main roads fixed the detour route because the original plan was really long!

Since there are already two contractors employed to stand around doing nothing just watching the detour, I asked if they could be put to use holding up stop/slow signs instead of having the path closed completely. Main roads are adamant that this would be impossible for the contractors -- I find that hard to believe.

As I understand, the path isn't going to be resurfaced at all, anywhere. This would have been a really good opportunity to make it smooth again, and a proper width.

What bugs me the most is that even closing 1 lane of the freeway during peak hour would be completely out of the question. Yet cyclist commuters, the tax payers who actually reduce freeway congestion, who get this tiny bumpy 2m wide strip to share with pedestrians, are frequently inconvenienced by crazy detours. Not very encouraging at all.

rodneythellama wrote:This detour is really bothering me. A whole month is such a long time and the detour is rather inconvenient, especially the "official" detour which goes down Mends St.

I got up in a huff about it and e-mailed main roads a while back. I got an apologetic reply from the pedestrian and cycling co-ordinator (maybe he reads the forums?) saying it's the contractor's fault because there will be machinery moving rocks and other materials. Also he said we're lucky that main roads fixed the detour route because the original plan was really long!

Since there are already two contractors employed to stand around doing nothing just watching the detour, I asked if they could be put to use holding up stop/slow signs instead of having the path closed completely. Main roads are adamant that this would be impossible for the contractors -- I find that hard to believe.

As I understand, the path isn't going to be resurfaced at all, anywhere. This would have been a really good opportunity to make it smooth again, and a proper width.

What bugs me the most is that even closing 1 lane of the freeway during peak hour would be completely out of the question. Yet cyclist commuters, the tax payers who actually reduce freeway congestion, who get this tiny bumpy 2m wide strip to share with pedestrians, are frequently inconvenienced by crazy detours. Not very encouraging at all.

I share your concern, though less about the inconvenience than the high probability that someone will come unstuck with traffic coming down labouchere road. Yesterday I counted more than 50 riders crossing the MIll Point Rod/Labouchere Road lights in one light cycle. It really does show how many cyclists are using the PSP at this time of year.

On a lost opportunity to do more substantial works - agreed wholeheartedly. The resurfacing should be done at this time.And more importantly, to widen for the sake of safety. The last effort was only packing the shoulders (remarkabley and surprising effective too ). And even then it was only done to address the damage that service vehicles had done and would continue to do. Works there do get listed but each year the funds always seem to dry up before they can put out a tender. The recently released Perth Bike Plan is calling for a substantial and consistent level of funding as funding seems to have slid somewhat.

On your last paragraph you are constructing the facts to suit your position IMO. Drivers DO experience this sort of stuff. Big time. And over much longer periods of time - years, not months. atm and for the last two years they have been short lanes and lots of squeezing at the works near Leach Highway. And that is not isolated example. We ALL get it rough when significant works are done on the main traffic arteries whether it is cycling or driving. I don't know that there is an easy answer either.