As works get underway in preparation for the Suburban Rail Loop station at Clayton, access to the precinct has been severely constrained.
There is a full closure of Clayton Road until late October as crews undertake a blitz of service relocation and site establishment works at the site of the new underground SRL station.
Parts of Haughton and Carinish roads are also closed at times for the moving of underground utilities, demolishing buildings and building two new open spaces on Haughton Road.
SRL says the works are being undertaken together to minimise the overall impact to the community and reduce the time roads are impacted.
And there is detailed information available about roads, buses, and the shopping opportunities during the works period.
But the fact that the busy Djerring Trail runs right through the middle of the closed works area is not mentioned. The trail is not even marked on the maps provided.
The detour for bikes is one of the worst you could encounter, and it seems little effort was made to find an acceptable solution.
Bicycle Network was alerted to the problems by riders, who instantly recognised the problems with the detour plan.
Discussions with the contractors were not fruitful as it seems the site arrangements and associated detours have been locked in. The same contractors at other SRL sites have been open to collaboration on detour planning.
SRL says the Trail will remain open during the works, but in this case ‘open' is used in the sense that a maze is open. Yes, but it would help if there was a map for the maze.
Ultimately the underground station project will be positive for active travel.
Walking and cycling tracks that connect to the Trail will be upgraded, with new signage and lighting to improve safety, and plenty of bike parking hoops.
