Two busy Melbourne bike routes face major disruption from tomorrow as the streets are closed for work on a new water main.
All the lanes into the city along Albert Street between Clarendon Street and Eades Street will be closed from tomorrow, 13 March until Friday, 5 April.
The northbound lanes of Clarendon Street between Grey Street and Albert Street will also be closed during this period.
The detours will be a major pain for bike commuters. There are convenient routes through the Fitzroy Gardens, but the City of Melbourne frowns on bikes being ridden on those paths, and riders can be fined.
The official advice is to walk your bikes through the area. Riders in road shoes may choose to walk on the grass, or detour through surrounding suburbs.
The works are essential as the M41 water main supplies drinking water to more than 350,000 residents and businesses in Melbourne’s inner suburbs.
It is almost 100 years old and deteriorating and needs to be replaced to prevent leaks.
The project will be excavating a trench approximately 3m deep to install the new 1.2m diameter steel pipe. These pipes range in lengths from 6.5m to 13.5m.
These works will be performed during the day between 7am and 6pm Monday to Friday and Saturday between 7am and 1pm, with a crew of workers, large excavators, compaction rollers, trucks and light construction vehicles within the work zone.
There will be no on-street parking and no vehicle access available within the work zone while the works are undertaken.