Bicentennial - Stage 3 begins

Image sourced from biking brisbane

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/plan-to-satisfy-hungry-thirsty-cyclists-20130121-2d23a.html

Construction on Stage 3 of the Bicentennial Bikeway upgrade has finally begun and it is to be welcomed. While it will mean 6 months of construction and slight inconvenience the results will be worth it.

Stage 3 is no doubt the trickiest part of the upgrade so far. At this point the bikeway runs between Coronation drive and the former Drift Restaurant on the river. This makes what is already a very narrow corridor to upgrade at the narrowest point into a contemporary Active Transport arterial even more challenging. To make it possible part of the bank supporting Coronation Drive is going to be partly dug into and the pedestrian path will go hard up against the former restaurant. As well as this the notorious bridge just before the restaurant is going to be duplicated so that each mode has it's own bridge. Then there is the ground which is terribly unstable, so much so that is to be stabilised with piling work so it doesn't fall into the river. All in all it is alot of very tricky work for a mear 520meters of upgrade but I can honestly see where the $8 million is going.

Stage 3 is sandwiched in between stage 1 & stage 2. This has currently resulted in the confusing situation of the path going from segregated to shared and back to segregated. At the moment it is the bottle neck on the corridor with the notorious bridge being the pinch point. After the works are completed Brisbane will finally have a Active Transport arterial that will extend from Land St Toowong into the CBD. While this will mean only 3 kms has been built to contemporary standards it is an important 3kms. It will mean the thousand plus bicycle movements coming from the Western Freeway Bikeway will be catered for with no need for mixing it up with pedestrian movements.

Since the upgrades to the Bicentennial Bikeway began back in 2009 use has jumped from over 4000 bicycle/pedestrian movements to now over 5500 movements a day. This is indeed an impressive figure as it shows that there has been a 30% jump in just 3 years. This has to be put down to the upgrades, as figures I have sighted showed before the upgrades begun Bicentennial had reached a plato where use had dropped in 2005 only to bounce back in 2006 with the opening of the Western Freeway path to Jindalee. Once Stage 3 is completed further increases in usage will surly occur due to the removal on the main pinch point. It will be interesting what the patronage of  Bicentennial will be this time Next Year.

Once Stage 3 is finished bring on the final Stage, Stage 4.