SYD: M4 cycleway Holroyd-Auburn opened?

Duncan McRae...
>... wondered if anyone had traversed the said route yet.
>
> I currently commute Sth-Parramatta to Homebush Bay via Rosehill/Camellia and onto the Parra-river
> cycleway and the M4 alternative certainly looks good.

Inspired by your post I cycled out that way today for a look.

The path is open from the Holroyd Sportsground (just west of the Woodville Rd - Parramatta Rd
junction) to Martha St (just east of James Ruse Dve). It mostly runs under the M4 & can be accessed
from any of the roads which cross or end at the motorway.

The section from the eastern end of Martha St to Adderley St (which crosses Duck River) is not yet
open but is complete apart from some fencing. For now you need to detour via Parramatta Rd but my
guess would be that only a week or two is needed to finish it off.

From the eastern end of Adderley St there is another path which goes under the M4 into Newington
from where it is easy to reach Homebush Bay.

Not as scenic as the Parramatta River of course but certainly a nice alternative and worth trying.

Peter

[email protected] (Duncan McRae) wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Just spotted an article in the local fish-wrapper with the local member and mayor getting their
> exposure over the opening of the Holroyd - Auburn link of the M4 cycleway, including a bridge over
> duck creek/river.
...
> I'll be trying the route out Monday morning (got to drive to work Friday so I can pick up a pair
> of SPD shoes for my new cleats). Will report back if I discover anything of interest.

Peter Barlow ([email protected]) wrote:

> Inspired by your post I cycled out that way today for a look.

Thanks for the info Peter.

I tried out the route this morning. I joined the cycleway at Good St, Granville.. all the way
through to Silverwater Rd.

The cycleway is nicely constructed.. but some comments:

1/ As Peter noted, Duck creek bridge isn't really "open" yet. Contrary to my local paper, which had
a nice picture of some smiling politicians and a cyclist riding over the bridge, the paths on
either side of the bridge are still construction sites.

I managed to get through there this morning without too many hassles (entered at the corner of
Martha St just before it ducks under the
M4), but the guys in the bobcat were giving me strange looks.

2/ Every 200m or so, the cycleway crosses a road.. Nothing new for cycleways, I guess, but a pain
when you're commuting: roads are faster and potentially safer. Some of the crossings (like Good
St) are very busy at that time of the morning, and there is no center island to hide in.

3/ I got confuddled getting across Silverwater road and into Newington; but that's just me
being an idiot.

I'll try it a few more times to get the route down pat...

duncan

old&slow <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> I've got enormous admiration for any of you blokes that are prepared to brave Sydney traffic to
> ride and it sure sounds like a great and refreshing government initiative to build cycle paths on
> commuter routes. You could, of course, move to Canberra and have cycling paradise.

It's not really that bad if you pick your route carefully and keep your wits about you; you really
need to assume that every driver is an idiot and will lane-change into you without warning.

At least on the roads the cars have lights; I've lost count of the number of times I've nearly
bowled over a pedestrian (and their dog, usually) on a shared path after dark.

> I know it's a big world, but any chance you're the footy McRae ? My respect for the Waratahs just
> jumped big time if there's a rider amongst them !

'fraid not. I'm not really the build for it

duncan

(ps: Tried the path again this morning. The bridge over duck creek is now inaccessible (they've
completed the chain-link fence I previously went through), but I found the very pleasant path
through Newington from the Silverwater Rd/M4 junction. I guess I'll have to wait until they _really_
open the Duck creek bridge).

<old&amp>; "slow" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I've got enormous admiration for any of you blokes that are prepared to brave Sydney traffic to
> ride and it sure sounds like a great and refreshing government initiative to build cycle paths on
> commuter routes. You could, of course, move to Canberra and have cycling paradise. I know it's a
> big world, but any chance you're the footy McRae ? My respect for the Waratahs just jumped big
> time if there's a rider amongst them !
>

Although the roads in Canberra are better than Sydney, I think you have a much higher proportion of
insanely aggressive drivers. Maybe its because they know that cycle-paths exist that they get wound
up when they see you on the road, but I found that the number of completely unjustified abusive
attacks was about one incident/3 hours riding compared with around one/50 hours here.

Andy