The installation of a new underground electricity network through Collingwood may intermittently interrupt bike routes over the next five months.
Work starts Thursday, 1 April on the project that will place 1.3 km of cables under various streets and lanes.
The contractor, Lendlease, are planning on doing one day of work tomorrow at the corner of Wellington and Langridge Street.
The works tomorrow includes trenching at the cnr Wellington into Langridge Street, West bound lane.
The rest of the works will continue after Easter.
The cables are going 2.3 metres underground requiring work crews to occupy sections of streets while traffic is directed around the worksite.
Some of the streets are busy bike routes.
The cables connect to the new Collingwood Zone sub-station at Langridge and Hoddle Street and then run west along Langridge, turn down Wellington Street for a short distance, then into Derby Street, then Cambridge, Mason and Little Veronica Streets, before turning into Napier St and ending up at Victoria Street outside the Australian Catholic University.
The management of bike traffic should not be too disruptive. The crews expect to move in stages of 20 metres or so each day, so there will be temporary hold ups as traffic is shuffled around the activity area.
The roads are expected to be clear each day by 4pm so the evening peak should not be troubled.
Steel plates may be used to cover trenches. As they will be in placed for just and evening, they should always be in safe condition.
The roads will be reinstated shortly after each stage is completed.
Initial construction activity will be in the section around the Derby St, Wellington St and Langridge St dogleg, taking three weeks.
Energy demand is growing across Collingwood and Fitzroy, with numerous large developments in the previously industrial area.
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