Following on from my by the LXRA, on top of this week’s confusion about when “early May” expires so the bike path will re-open, I got some new information about the next closure! Or is it just a continuation of the current closure?
surprise closure, no sign
The Station trail bike path had only been open for just over a week, after the previous three month closure, today it was closed.
bike path closed sign “for a month”
A couple of new signs have appeared, cable-tied to the fence around the car parks at Oakleigh station. Hidden as a footnote on the map, not even amongst the confusing text, is the message that the Station trail from Oakleigh station to Huntingdale station will be closed for a month, starting yesterday. When I queried the LXRA I was told that these signs had been in place for a week, unsurprisingly, every single person I spoke to who rides or walks past this location had not seen the non-existent sign during the past week.
April fool, the path isn’t reopened
What can I say, the month came and went and the path remained closed.
bike path partly open
On again off again; some days the gates have been removed at Dover streets and the corner of Westminster and Edward street so you can use that short section of bike path. The path is fenced off at both Hanover street so you can’t get any further west towards Oakleigh station, and just past the Westminster/Edward corner so you can’t get east down to Huntingdale – although one morning I could. That said, there’s frequently work crew around, utes parked on the path, backhoes in operation, but none of the crew ever say anything about cyclists or dog walkers going through the site so it must be OK…
“Nah mate,” closed until
On the way to work I detoured into the Oakleigh station car park to see if it was open at the station end – the car-park re-open date came and went and the only thing that happened was that contracters took down all the signs – presumably to obscure the fact that the work hadn’t been completed on time! Nope, bike path still closed and I was informed by the work crew that “there should be signs around here somewhere” and that “it’s closed until the 1st of May”
Mostly closed
Riding in from Oakleigh station car park to check, I found part of the car parking spaces blocked off, but the bike path unfenced at last and no signs anywhere regarding closures. Rode off down the bike path, under the road bridge there was a half-removed piece of chain-link fence diagonally across one half of the path so I rode past it. Ride past the ends of Oxford, Downing, Westminster streets and they’re all fenced off – no access back out onto the roads! Here I find myself in middle of building site with live backhoes! One of the work-crew madly waved at the backhoe driver to stop, then waved me past, but nobody said anything to me or told me I wasn’t supposed to be there. Get all the way down to Huntingdale to find the fence locked, with me on the inside! Backed up 100m along the path to a LXRA work crew and asked them, “Nah mate, still doing works, should be open in a week or two.” They then produced keys and let me out a back gate, thru a yard and back onto Railway avenue! How the #@#$ does WorkSafe Victoria let these guys get away with this!
“Until Early May”
The chain-link fence has been firmly locked in place across the Westminster street/Edward street corner for about a week now, today I took some time to take a look at the current sign tied in place.
Current 2 month LXRA bikepath closure; “early May” says the sign vs “another coupla weeks mate”, said the workmen
These works involve closing this shared use path from the eastern end of Oakleigh Station Portman Street car park to Huntingdale Station from 4am Thursday 1 March to early May 2018.
OK, can anyone tell me how far into May ’early May’ is? We’ll be a third of the way through the month tomorrow.
Surprise! Path closed for two months more
An email came around at work today, the LXRA has sent a copy of their latest closure notice to the Facilities & Services people to be forwarded to any cyclists they know to inform them of…
SHARED USE PATH CLOSURE
FRIDAY 11 MAY - LATE JUNE 2018
Due to works as part of the Caulfield to Dandenong Level Crossing Removal Project and critical signally and infrasturcture works ahead of the introduction of High Capacity Metro Trains on the Cranbourne and Pakenham line, the shared use path from the eastern end of Oakleigh Station to Colin Road in Clayton will be temporarily closed due to difficult ground conditions.
Yes, the printed sign does say “infrasturcture”
Summary
So after being open for about ten days in February after a three month closure, the bike path will have been closed for a further one, no two, no four months… that is, if the “late June” end date is adhered to.
No surprises here, path still closed
Well late June turned into early July, and the only thing that has changed is that the LXRA came around and removed the signs saying that the path would be closed “until late June”. The bike path is still closed, fenced off and the building site “No Entry” signs are still in place.
Another month, that’s closed for five months now
Nothing happened in the last month, the chain link fence blocking access is still there and various “No Entry” signs are still present. Confusingly, right alongside these signs there are gaps in the fencing, up to 4m wide in places and so you can get in, and if you’re lucky, you can get out again at one of the other four access points. There’s very little work going on and I suspect that people have just given up and pulled sections of the access fence down or aside because you can ride through now, even if parts of the path are dug up and sometimes you meet a work crew. The work crews don’t say a thing as you ride past – or through – them, maybe they don’t know if the path is meant to be open or closed either.
Closed until end of October now…
Reading through the Level crossing removal authority website searching – in vain – for information on another aspect of their works, we found the latest notice about the Oakleigh to Clayton bike path – undated, of course. Apparently it is now closed “until the end of October due to difficult ground conditions.”
