A section of the Federation Trail in Brooklyn has been closed until 2022.
The prolonged closure is to allow additional lanes to be added to the West Gate Freeway as part of the West Gate Tunnel project.
The trail will be closed at Fogarty Avenue, Yarraville for outbound riders, and at Miller Road for those inbound.
The rest of the Federation Trail to Werribee, starting at Millers Road in Brooklyn, will remain open.
An alternative route has been selected that connects from Fogarty Avenue through to Millers Road via streets through Spottswood, South Kingsville and Altona North.
Finding a suitable alternative was difficult. The Federation Trail is the only true bike route in the area, so when that is unavailable it leaves few options.
Bicycle Network investigated numerous other alternative routes, however all except for the one chosen were not possible.
The project has highlighted the importance of having numerous connected bike networks so that riders always have somewhere to go.
While the alternative route is not ideal, one advantage is that it will be known to many riders. It was regularly used to get to the Millers Road junction of the Federation Trail prior to the bridge being built over the Newport Freight Line in Fogarty Avenue.
The route that the project team settled on is the best available, and further upgrades will make it safer.
A map of the alternative route is below. Click on the image to open and save a copy.
