The Swan Street Bridge underpass debacle continues with no action on promised changes due by the end of August.
Minor modifications to the alignment and marking of the approaches were promised to improve the hazardous underpass under the Swan Street Bridge on the Main Yarra Trail.
As of Tuesday, there was no movement on those changes. Our expectations that they will meet the deadline are extremely low given that the end of the month is now only one sleep away.
Bike riders are running out of patience on a project that has been a costly failure from the start.
Bicycle Network learned that preliminary feasibility investigations indicated that the best fix for the narrow path under the bridge is to implement a short section of pontoon path, similar to that used further along the river.
Simply widening the existing path with rock and earth is not advised because of the soft, silty riverbed in that location.
However a pontoon floating on the river under the Swan Street span, with a ramp to the bank at both ends, would be a great solution for bikes and people on foot. Bu there’s no commitment to building this.
The Main Yarra Trail remains one of Melbourne’s most popular and busiest paths and people who ride and walk have had to deal with inconvenient closures for more than 12 months.
What’s worse is that the only solution we’ve been offered is sub-standard and shouldn’t have been built in the first place.
Enough is enough.
It’s an election year and we need politicians to sit up and take notice.
We need to put pressure on our politicians and let them know that we ride, we vote and we won’t accept being pushed aside.
TAKE ACTION: Write to your local member today
Write to your local member telling them exactly where you’ll cast your vote if this underpass isn’t brought up to standard. Tell them you’ll put them last on the ballot paper.
And help us spread the word. Click the buttons below and share this page with your colleagues, friends and across social media.
We know collective action makes a difference. If we can make enough noise, we can get a better outcome for people who ride.
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