Southern parkland path upgrade - finally!

[Roinik]

I find that if you keep up with the traffic down George St you can hit the cycle lane and go along Glen Osmond and in that way. Not quite as quick as the path unless you take the dirt track from the intersection with Greenhill. 700x23C road tyres don't like that very much, especially new ones.

[Roinik]

Is that equipment I can see back on the path?

[ColinOldnCranky]

Considering most of the opinions and whining about ACC infrastructure comes from those who don't reside in the city or pay rates to contribute to it, I'd say you should just be grateful for whatever happens as an improvement. With the money that's being funneled into all the other big ticket capital works projects of late(mall/vic square/Rundle st) this is a bonus for cyclists.

Ouch - where did that come from? That sort of thinking can be challenged on so many fronts... Starting with a host of benefits and services that you use and which I pay for.

I am a public servant in an industry with massive demand and limited resources, long unpaid hours and a strong belief in what my employer does. And I suffer the comments of fools sprouting stereotypes that are far from reality so I can see where you are coming from.

And if you have a dog that is not yet trained then the 'tizer can be quite valuable.

[Roinik]

Well, the benchmark is now set. 100m/month and the path is finished (less crack filling). Let's see if this can be improved upon. Does anyone have any spare tar that they can give me to fill the cracks?

[Sir Stinkalot]

Well, the benchmark is now set. 100m/month and the path is finished (less crack filling). Let's see if this can be improved upon. Does anyone have any spare tar that they can give me to fill the cracks?

It is good to see it finished and it certainly is an improvement on what was previously there. That said however there really needs to be some questioned asked within ACC how they can accept the problems which were clearly showing within a week of finishing the path. This was a complete remove and rebuild, not a patch up job. The cracking, which is quite evident, is a clear sign of poor preparation and if this was a job for a private client it would have been rejected as being defective and left up to the contractor to rectify (and not just fill the cracks with tar). If the path had been completed to a higher standard ACC would have been able to walk away maintenance free from the path for a number of years, as it is the path has already become a maintenance issue and will be an ongoing cost, or they will just let it get even worse until it needs to be replaced again.

[Roinik]

If the path had been completed to a higher standard ACC would have been able to walk away maintenance free from the path for a number of years, as it is the path has already become a maintenance issue and will be an ongoing cost, or they will just let it get even worse until it needs to be replaced again.

Granted, it's good to get a better surface. If the circular pathway is anything to go by, the cracks are here to stay - no patch up. The ACC will have to lift it's game if it wants to fulfil it's ambition to make Adelaide more like a dutch cycle friendly city and contribute it's fair share to the Federal Government's committed target of doubling cycling participation by 2020.

[Sir Stinkalot]

ACC were so happy with the recent path replacement they have decided to put a new one in heading north east from the Porter Street / Greenhill Road across the parkland.

With any luck they may have learnt a thing or two the first time around.

[Roinik]

With any luck they may have learnt a thing or two the first time around.

I did see someone checking out the cracks in the path yesterday morning.

Heather has a link on Adelaide Cyclists/Adelaide BUG to the report detailing the ACC plan for 2012 - 2020 to decrease the car traffic and increase pedestrian, cycling and public transport options within the ACC area. Part of that plan is to increase the area of pathway through the parklands. It's worth checking out.

[Sir Stinkalot]

On the way in this morning the crack "crack" filling team were in action on the new section of path. It now matches nicely with the finish on Porter Street, which is Unley Council so no only basing ACC. Interesting to see however that the second path that they were constructing was moving at a good pace until they finished the sub surface prep before putting it on hold while waiting on the asphalt team. There must only be one asphalt team in all of Adelaide as all of the roads are in need of resurfacing.

To their credit the new green surfaced areas are good. The green bike arrow from South Terrace onto Pultney Street makes it more comfortable to get around the corner before the cars (even though it is frustrating the number of cars that get "stuck" in the green box as they don't manage to make it around on the orange). The slightly wider green path along Pirie Street makes avoiding the door zone slightly easier, although doesn't help with the delivery trucks that just park all over the path, including out the front of Council's office first thing in the morning when the grey ghosts are in full flight. The section of path heading east along Pirie to get across Pultney Street has been resolved with the help of the green path where as previously it was just conveniently terminated to avoid having to deal with the issue.

There are still a number of areas which have been prepared for the green paint but it looks as if there must be a shortage. It would be interesting to see if the green will continue along Pirie past Councils offices ..... I find this area to be just as dangerous as the earlier section that is now green, particularly with office workers trying to get across the road when traffic has stopped without thinking about the bike path.

There was an interesting article in the free local paper by Matthew Abraham (http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/opin ... 6587815930" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;), whilst this is about mad March, it was a similar situation with the Tour Down Under with a number of the new bike friendly features being added during the time. Whilst I am sure that it would look good for the visitors that ACC is actually doing something for cyclists, imagine if they managed to schedule the work to finish before the TDU and how impressive the bicycle infrastructure would have looked for interstate visitors.