PSP Closure Kwinana Freeway 2014

[mikedufty]

Yes, drivers on the whole seem very patient and understanding there to me. Didn't even seem upset by the cyclist yesterday who decided to cross when the Mill Point Rd lights went red, instead of when the Labouchere Rd lights went green, so held up all the cars turning onto the free way on a green right arrow while he wobbled across the middle of the road trying to clip in his shoes and waving apologetically.

[SNAKE ®]

I am assuming you are heading north towards the Narrows.

Your post implied it is fairly common and certainly more than a lone idiot. If that was the case I would expect to have seen the same on a few or more occasions. On the contrary, and consistent with Warbys observations, I am yet to see even my first case of untoward and unreasoanble behaviour by any motorist at that intersection. I have expressed previously the welcome and unexpected understanding by motorists at that intersection.

There are not a lot of drivers drivers heading in a northerly direction at the times I go though.

What time do you go thru?

It was a one off (AT) about 7:45am ish, heading north towards the city.
Sure I agree the majority of motorists are decent at that intersection. However, last month heading home and little further south I was riding home with a bunch of guys when an old lady in a white Corolla pulled out in front of us at the Preston St roundabout IGA causing myself to slam into her door while the guy next to me crashed over the car in a bad way. I picked him and his bike up as about 20 people from the adjacent cafe came running over to render further assistance. Glad he was ok but disappointingly, the old refused to accept fault and kept blaming us. Clearly she didn't look. Thank god I dont venture up that stretch of Labouchere Rd any more!

[softy]

I am assuming you are heading north towards the Narrows.

Your post implied it is fairly common and certainly more than a lone idiot. If that was the case I would expect to have seen the same on a few or more occasions. On the contrary, and consistent with Warbys observations, I am yet to see even my first case of untoward and unreasoanble behaviour by any motorist at that intersection. I have expressed previously the welcome and unexpected understanding by motorists at that intersection.

There are not a lot of drivers drivers heading in a northerly direction at the times I go though.

What time do you go thru?

It was a one off (AT) about 7:45am ish, heading north towards the city.
Sure I agree the majority of motorists are decent at that intersection. However, last month heading home and little further south I was riding home with a bunch of guys when an old lady in a white Corolla pulled out in front of us at the Preston St roundabout IGA causing myself to slam into her door while the guy next to me crashed over the car in a bad way. I picked him and his bike up as about 20 people from the adjacent cafe came running over to render further assistance. Glad he was ok but disappointingly, the old refused to accept fault and kept blaming us. Clearly she didn't look. Thank god I dont venture up that stretch of Labouchere Rd any more!

Normal,
Motorist see bicycles as an invasion on their sacred land. If you saw that woman who got doored and got it all on camera. The guys blamed her and wouldn't give their address.

Anyone know the follow up story to that, did they charge the two men?

[Scott_C]

Anyone know the follow up story to that, did they charge the two men?

The man who opened the door was fined ~$350 for 'dooring', the other man hadn't commited an offence.
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The man who opened the door also paid for the (minor) damage to the bicycle after being sent a letter of demand. He did not apologise to the cyclist.
viewtopic.php?f=41&t=16139&p=1136647#p1136647" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[SNAKE ®]

Apologies to fellow cyclists this morning at 6.45am.
Both my headlight batteries died near Canning Bridge on the way to work - quite possibly at the worst possible place and time.
I later joined a peloton riding North along Labouchere Rd.

*note to self. Don't leave batteries out in the cold overnight

[Baalzamon]

Driving past the works to the north end on the weekend, they have removed more than 0.5m of the retaining and path base, and inserted steel sheet piles in the river next to. I think I read something about precast concrete retaining to be used.

All in all, they are making great progress, looking forward to it.

That may indicate that they are behind the seasonal requirements and will be constructing the precast behind temporary steel barrier pumped dry. If so then that does not make for confidence that they will have the section opened any time too soon.

I hope my assessment is not right though, in my case, I can live with the detour relatively easily. Not so for everyone.

I can confirm that is what they have done. Drove past it yesterday and could see the steel sheet piles going all the way around. And they may have twigged oops weather has gotten us already, need the steel sheet piles to do this.

[Red Rider]

The project web page was last updated on 13th June, saying it "should be completed in early July, subject to weather conditions". Seems a bit optimistic, but surely they can't be too far out with the estimation made only a couple weeks ago

[SNAKE ®]

Lets hope so.
The signs say completion by May. It is beyond me why such a project was undertaken with winter around the corner.

[softy]

Lets hope so.
The signs say completion by May. It is beyond me why such a project was undertaken with winter around the corner.

Less cycles maybe??

[Robinho]

The project web page was last updated on 13th June, saying it "should be completed in early July, subject to weather conditions". Seems a bit optimistic, but surely they can't be too far out with the estimation made only a couple weeks ago

I'm sure anyone in construction will confirm that a 4 week estimate to completion at 4 weeks from the estimated completion date is nearly always 4 weeks wrong!

[ColinOldnCranky]

Lets hope so.
The signs say completion by May. It is beyond me why such a project was undertaken with winter around the corner.

They will be very much conscious of the season.

We already know that the works around the flyover are best done within a time frame dictated by the lowest tides. The lowest are around the solstice.

If they had attempted to do it around the summer solstice (a couple of days before Christmas) we would be complaining, with justification, that they should not be doing it at the start of the peak riding months. That leaves the winter solstice.

So, depending on how much they have to play with in terms of height of tide, they may not be able to start until a limited time before the Winter solstice. Winter solstice was early this week.

While tides are pretty predictable, they can still vary with good years and bad years, especially in a n estuary like the swan river. It could be that this year did not get the low tides they planned/hoped for and they have been hanging and hoping.

The resources (crew and equipment) for the wall works at the flyover are not necessarily the same as the for the laying of the rest of the path. So the lateness of the path may not have had any effect on the works around the flyover. Maybe the tides were just not as low as they expected.

They do not plan to be late in these sorts of works as it can become damned expensive.

[SNAKE ®]

Wouldn't the winter storm surges have a bigger impact than tides?

[ColinOldnCranky]

Wouldn't the winter storm surges have a bigger impact than tides?

Certerus parabus it would. That area is well exposed to the winds off Melville water too.

But if the tides were not as low as expected, say, a couple of months back, then they may have had little choice but to wait, and hope that we get few or late storms.

All I am doing is suggesting to you that they did not just make a stupid decision to do it just before winter storms. Forecasting conditions is risky and that they had reasons to be doing it in the lead up to winter rather than, say, January/February or November/December.

I make a point to accept the challenge of riding in the lee of Melville waters when the bigger storms are blowing. So far I have not ridden into a decent storm this year. If they gambled on acceptable late conditions then so far they have been correct.

[SNAKE ®]

Ironically, I find myself riding to work more often during the winter months than in summer.
I hope that gut wrenching stench from rotting sea weed doesn't return when it gets warmer.

[Baalzamon]

Just took a snap at the overpass for the Beeliar Drive diversion of the Kwinana FWY PSp



They are getting along. Well it should be a nice smooth section of path again

[Marmoset]

I can confirm that is what they have done. Drove past it yesterday and could see the steel sheet piles going all the way around. And they may have twigged oops weather has gotten us already, need the steel sheet piles to do this.

The sheet piles were probably in the original design as they will be a more durable. A heavier engineering solution will have been developed here as the flyover requires support from that area, so that asset is also being protected in the long term as well.

Hopefully it'll be finished soon, the 5 minute wait at the lights in the cooler temps is testing the warm up ability of my legs, the last few Km's of the ride feels further than the several before it when I've cooled down. .

[Rusty6149]

According to the Main Roads website, the re-opening of the final section of the PSP will now be August..

https://www.mainroads.wa.gov.au/Buildin ... 7DnBvmSzO4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Another month at least of Mill Point mayhem.

--Rusty

[ColinOldnCranky]

I can confirm that is what they have done. Drove past it yesterday and could see the steel sheet piles going all the way around. And they may have twigged oops weather has gotten us already, need the steel sheet piles to do this.

The sheet piles were probably in the original design as they will be a more durable.

Initial advice were that the water wall was of precast concrete, I am guessing some form of locking blocks.

I haven't observed the sheets so I am assuming they are the sort of thing that is commionly used in conert with pumping out water.

[flashpixx]

took the new section of the PSP on the last leg of a 60km peddle on Saturday. The new bit is certainly very nice.

A little grumpy however as I was on target to set a new average speed record for the journey, however the Mill Point Rd detour brought me undone

I chickened out at the Mill Point Rd Labourchere Rd intersection and walked the bike across Mill Point Rd

[Yagan]

I have ridden to work the last couple of days after a considerable break and love the new path that has been laid. I can't help to notice the fence is now only about a foot an a half high down the side of the path. It seems they have filled in over the old path and built up leaving only a bit of the fence protruding. It now means if you have a fall you will come down on top of the fence which is really dangerous. I also question the time the path will stay in its current condition with quite large trees right to the edge of the path. It is a shame that a project that has costed in excess of 3 million has not been finished off as it should have.

[ColinOldnCranky]

I have ridden to work the last couple of days after a considerable break and love the new path that has been laid. I can't help to notice the fence is now only about a foot an a half high down the side of the path. It seems they have filled in over the old path and built up leaving only a bit of the fence protruding. It now means if you have a fall you will come down on top of the fence which is really dangerous. I also question the time the path will stay in its current condition with quite large trees right to the edge of the path. It is a shame that a project that has costed in excess of 3 million has not been finished off as it should have.

The fence on the riverside of the path has always been that height. It's only there to protect little critters in the nature reserve. And yes, it is a bit of a hazard. Both sides would be far better with top railing. You will see some comment by me and others earlier by moi and others on that as well as the issue of trees encroaching. I guess that great minds think alike. It's a pity the minds of those that control works aren't as great.

[SNAKE ®]

They have started to resume path works for the remainder of the PSP near Mill Point Road.

Hopefully they'll have it resealed and completed by August.
(*btw, I noticed some keen cyclists took advantage of Saturday's weather conditions and decided to try out the fenced off uncompleted section.)

[Robinho]

BWA put something on Facebook earlier about discovering damage to the river wall which needs repair/replacement and will take the project into August.

[ColinOldnCranky]

BWA put something on Facebook earlier about discovering damage to the river wall which needs repair/replacement and will take the project into August.

Thanks for that. I have just had a look. I have been wondering, as many opthers will have been, why the delay from original schedule.

Not surprised as far as the segment around Judd St. (Mends)

They have packed in a massive amount of rock on the stretch from Hardy to Judd.

From BWA FB page

Stage 2 of the Kwinana Freeway PSP upgrade, being undertaken by Main Roads WA between Hardy Street and The Narrows, has unfortunately been delayed due to the discovery of significant decay in the existing river wall.
The path is now likely to be re-opened to pedestrians and cyclists in mid August.

[Red Rider]

From the MR website:

From Hardy Street to The Narrows should be completed in mid-August, subject to weather conditions. Completion of Stage 2 has unfortunately been delayed due to the discovery of significant decay in the existing river wall which rendered it structurally unsound. To repair this section, the contractor has completed a full structural re-design and installed sheet piles around the river wall, adjacent to the Judd Street bridge, to protect Main Roads’ assets. Once sheet piling is complete, the contractor will tie the existing river wall to the sheet pile via a large reinforced concrete structure before completing the remaining planned works on the PSP. We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this delay in the Stage 2 works.

Sounds pretty serious! Murphy's Law strikes again.