Bikes and cars will be mixing it up on a very slow and congested Lloyd Street in Kensington for the remainder of the year.
Due to works associated with the Metro Tunnel, a section of the existing bike lanes will be merged with traffic lanes where the suburban rail lines cross over the road.
Lloyd Street is a popular connection between Dynon Road and Arden Street. It is also used by riders who link through to South Kensington through the Lloyd St industrial estate.
When the works get underway, Lloyd Street will get a new 30kmh speed limited and the bike lanes will be merged with the traffic lanes on the approach to and through the works zone.
There will be extensive line marking and signage to indicate the changed traffic conditions.
Initially, Lloyd Street, will be closed between Arden Street and Radcliffe Street each night from 8:00pm to 5:00am until Friday 14 September.
During these closures a section of Lloyd Street (adjacent to Bakehouse Road) will be temporarily realigned to enable traffic to flow in both directions while a work area is set up in the existing southbound lane.
Riders are encouraged to detour via Dynon Road, and /or the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail during these overnight closures.
Once the road alignment has been changed in a few weeks, riders may continue to use Lloyd Street, but may consider Dynon Road, the Moonee Ponds Creek, or Arden and Elizabeth Streets as alternative routes.
The works are required at this location as the tunnels (there are actually two tunnels in Melbourne Metro Tunnel) pass under Lloyd Street at this point, and at this location they will be linked to each other with a cross passage.
However soils are unstable at depth here, making the construction of the cross passage problematic.
To remedy this impediment, the loose soils will be solidified by the injection of a large volume of grout into the ground where the tunnel will pass through. The grout sets over time making the soils stable for the construction of the cross tunnel later in the project.
This site is particularly difficult for a task of this nature, hemmed in with multiple road bridges and high voltage power towers.
It is positive to see that bikes will still be able to get through, but it will be a bit messy.
Cross passages are short tunnels that connect the parallel tunnels. On the Metro Tunnel, they will be located at regular distances to allow access from one tunnel to another in the event of an emergency.