Perth-Midland Path blocked at Guildford Bridge

[cj7hawk]

Hi All,



The Guildford Rd Bridge is now blocked off - the entire length of the PSP - You can cycle to the other side, but then there's no way to get back onto the detour, and you have to cross high kerbs and dodge traffic. Not a great situation.

Some days I think we need crossing flags.

The detour is in violation of main roads policies. I'm still waiting on a response from them -

David

[Tandem]

Hi All,



The Guildford Rd Bridge is now blocked off - the entire length of the PSP - You can cycle to the other side, but then there's no way to get back onto the detour, and you have to cross high kerbs and dodge traffic. Not a great situation.

Some days I think we need crossing flags.

The detour is in violation of main roads policies. I'm still waiting on a response from them -

David

I cycled past this detour this morning and had no problems getting back on the cycle path again. After the bridge ride on the road and turn into Thompson Rd and your back on the detour. No big deal.

[cj7hawk]

Hi All,



The Guildford Rd Bridge is now blocked off - the entire length of the PSP - You can cycle to the other side, but then there's no way to get back onto the detour, and you have to cross high kerbs and dodge traffic. Not a great situation.

Some days I think we need crossing flags.

The detour is in violation of main roads policies. I'm still waiting on a response from them -

David

I cycled past this detour this morning and had no problems getting back on the cycle path again. After the bridge ride on the road and turn into Thompson Rd and your back on the detour. No big deal.

That's not the detour. The detour is Earlsferry Ct. And it's posted as such... ( below ) -



I guess Thompson Rd is a better solution, if you can interleave with the cars and at the time I went through they were pretty bad. But I went to the island past the intersection then worked my way back down then jumped the kerb.

There is no required signage at either end of the detour - A pretty poor effort on Main Road's behalf.

David

[Tandem]

Why do you need signage when you know the area.

[cj7hawk]

OK, something good from Main Roads - Following complaints, someone went out and investigated this morning;

From Main Roads;

The signage is being improved after a review this morning and the detour sign for path users travelling east will be earlier so that they do not end up at the fence on the northern side with nowhere to go. Additional temporary signage will be installed for drivers to be aware that both pedestrians and bicycle riders may be crossing the road between the Guildford Bridge and Thompson Road. However the safest place to cross Guildford Road is by using the traffic signals at West Road and Guildford Road. For this week you may find it easier to leave the PSP at the Lord Street connection and use the traffic lights at Guildford Road and West Road to cross on to the southern side and continue over the Guildford Road Bridge.

Which is fine for older riders, but I'm not so sure kids on bicycles will be able to cope with this - Still, they are responding, which is positive. I'm trying to find out from them though what went wrong in the first place that this detour went in without notice or publication of the issue on their website -

David.

[cj7hawk]

Why do you need signage when you know the area.

I don't know the area. I just pass through it. Detours are quite disruptive when a detailed knowledge of the area is required - and I have only a vague idea of the area and many sections of that path I have not ridden, or ride only occasionally. I see a lot of schoolkids passing through that way on bicycles too, and some quite young. I also know how poor vehicle traffic is in that bottleneck, due to the merge-catastrophy that occurs there daily, meaning drivers aren't looking for cyclists as much as they are watching the other cars.

Tandem, do you really think that is a safe detour? Or that it was well thought through?

David

[Tandem]

Yes I think it is a save detour. people / children that aren't confident riding on the road to cross into Thompson Rd, can always go up to the lights and cross there without any danger.It may take a couple of minutes longer but to me it would be no big deal.

[cj7hawk]

Yes I think it is a save detour. people / children that aren't confident riding on the road to cross into Thompson Rd, can always go up to the lights and cross there without any danger.It may take a couple of minutes longer but to me it would be no big deal.

Do you mind if I ask - Did you walk across the bridge on the wooden path, or did you ride across the bridge on the road?

Thanks
David

[NASHIE]

Forget trying to cross at Easlsferry Crt or Thompson, just cross at Lord St lights or further up at Wilson St underpass. Both are a lot easier than riding/walking over Success footbridge

[cj7hawk]

Forget trying to cross at Easlsferry Crt or Thompson, just cross at Lord St lights or further up at Wilson St underpass. Both are a lot easier than riding/walking over Success footbridge

I only ever went that way once, and didn't like it much. I figured the best way in the end was just claim the lane and ride on the road. Cars don't like it much, but it seemed the safest course of action in the end. At least for the eastbound trip. Westbound? I'm still deciding. The detour should only be for another week, and I'll probably only ride two more times this week -

Anyway, it seems that when it's inconvenience to follow their own guidelines, Main Roads is happy enough to put the entire inconvenience on cyclists. That's not something I'm happy with - and hopefully I can get an understanding of why they are doing that -

Fortunately, they have acknowledged the current dangers of the existing detour and are taking action to mitigate it somewhat - So there are individuals within Main Roads who are being quite helpful -

David

[jcdewit]

OK, the shared path is open again. So no need to cross the road or ride between the cars.

[Tandem]

OK, the shared path is open again. So no need to cross the road or ride between the cars.