Riders on the Dynon Road trail will today discover an alternative connection that avoids the risky crossing of the two Citylink on-ramps just near the Moonee Ponds Creek.
Instead of using the crossings at the on-ramps, riders can loop around the back of the structures and completely avoid the traffic heading onto the elevated freeway.
Installed in recent days, the loop is an interim solution and will be upgraded to a permanent component of the Dynon Road path at a later date.
The timing is fortunate as the Footscray Road path will close again for a period tonight as work begins on the construction of the Veloway, the elevated bike path connecting Footscray to the city.
All riders will be detoured along the Moonee Ponds Creek to Dynon Road while Footscray Road is closed.
The temporary loop is an obvious solution to the safety problems of the shared path crossing the on-ramps. A rider was recently serious injured by a truck that turned onto the on-ramp for southbound Dynon Road traffic without giving way to riders and pedestrians on the trail.
These ramps, particularly the one for southbound traffic which previously had no traffic signals for the crossing, have long been a concern for Bicycle Network.
When design work began for the West Gate Tunnel Project we recommended that this problem be addressed as part of the project work in the precinct.
Later, in 2019, we developed a design concept for a loop around the back of the ramps, and submitted it to the project, with the backing of the City of Melbourne.
More recently the City of Melbourne, working with the Department of Transport and Planning and Bicycle Network, further developed the design as part of an upgrade to the whole Dynon Road route.
Now the opportunity has been seized to create an interim version so that the safety benefits of the loop can be delivered sooner, with all the key agencies, including VicTrack (which controls the land) collaborating on the solution.
Importantly, the alignment will also connect into the new route from North Melbourne, which will utilise the new bike bridges across the rail corridor and the Moonee Ponds Creek.
The new diversion will be monitored over next few weeks. Riders should use some initial caution as they become familiar with the alignment.
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