Recently installed separated bike lanes along Linlithgow Avenue in the Domain Parklands are to be ripped out so tunnel boring machines can be transported along the street.
But don’t worry: they will be replaced when the job is done.
The City of Melbourne developed the new Linlithgow facility as a link between the Yarra Trail at Alexander Parade and St Kilda Road, to another new facility being developed along Southbank Boulevard.
The paint had hardly dried when it was realised that some oversize pieces of the Metro Tunnel TBMs (tunnel boring machines) need to be transferred along this route.
As the machines bore their way under Melbourne, they also have to make several changes of direction above ground.
They are dissembled into large segments and trucked through Melbourne in the dead of night.
Most of the segments are suitably sized to be moved on typical arterial roads, but some pieces are oversized and have to go the long way around.
The Linlithgow lane separators are being removed this week so the oversized TBM transports can squeeze up the street next month.
They will be replaced by temporary separator segments that can be moved out of the way on the nights that the trucking operations take place.
The street will be closed during those times—1am to 5am.
When the TBM moves is completed, the permanent lanes will be re-constructed and the bikes lanes will be back to normal—probably about late November.