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Moomba festivities to impact bike routes

The upcoming Labour Day long weekend will again crowd out bike riders from city routes as people throng to Moomba festivities.

This year’s Moomba will be a day longer, starting on Thursday evening and running through Monday.

It will also be time-shifted to start an hour earlier (10:00am) and finish an hour earlier (10:00pm) over the long weekend.

Huge crowds are expected to witness fireworks, water events on the Yarra, the float parade, BMX and skate displays and many other attractions.

Extensive traffic management is in place with road and parking closures in across the precinct.

There will be some permeability for bikes to filter through, but riding will be impossible when crowds are thick.

Riders are cautioned that Princes Bridge bike lanes may have to be closed during fireworks if crowd spill over onto the road.

As crowds swell it may be difficult for riders to use sections of the Main Yarra Trail. There will also be significant fencing through the festival environs, creating pinch points.

If you are thinking about visiting the CBD on bike during festival times, it would be worth planning routes that take you around the crowd congested areas at the south end of Swanston Street/Princes Bridge/Arts Centre precinct and away from the Yarra Trails east of Princes Bridge.

Boathouse drive on the south side of the Yarra will be closed, and although Petticoat Lane through the Alexandra Gardens will be open, pedestrian volumes will be high, so using the alternative route along Linlithgow Avenue and Southbank Boulevard may be advisable.

Lime Scooters and Neuron Scooters will place a geo-fence around the site making the festival site a go-slow zone or a no ride zone.

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