Says Bike Vic:
Parks Victoria Burnley office will close the north bank of the Yarra Path for the week 6 – 12 March.
The closure will allow for upgrading the surface of the floating pontoon sections. They will also readjust the hinged plates that link the floating pontoons to each other and to the fixed sections. This maintenance is necessary and will result in a better trail.
And not before time, I might add.
But BV is not pleased at all about being left out of the loop:
However we are speechless at the poor preparation, consultation and diversion planning. The Burnley office failed to get a phone call or email through to us and we only found out by chance. This has meant that we haven't been able to warn you about the diversion or assist in developing adequate alternatives.
Detour
MacRobertson's bridge - hardly wide open spaces…
Parks Vic reckons we'll have to cross over at MacRobertson's bridge. That should be a barrel o' laughs. Officially that's a pedestrian-only stretch but I don't predict many commuting cyclists will be dismounting there. No doubt it'll make for a few highly entertaining tangles.
There probably isn't much they can do about the MacRobertson's bridge crossing, but as for recommending cyclists use the Punt Rd. bridge BV is quite right to advise otherwise:
The southern access and footpath on Punt is inadequate. We recommend the car free Morell Bridge 200m downstream.
Update
Well, it appears that Parks Vic did take BV's advice, albeit belatedly: someone has been sent out with the Letraset and the sticky tape to adjust the notice boards to show the detour going over Morrell Bridge instead of Punt Rd. bridge. Now if they'd just bothered to make a call in the first place…
Interesting
BV's final jibe is interesting:
In an effort to keep the trail free we asked them to stage the works, do them at night, or outside peak hours. They did not accept any of these alternatives.
The Yarra Trail is one of the busiest bicycle commuting routes into the CBD. I wonder if the same lack of regard would ever be given to car commuters? Somehow I doubt it…