A nice ride... spoiled by a train station upgrade...
So I set out this fine sunny morning to ride the Veloway. All was going fine. I rode the Veloway until I was stopped by the works for the new train line (replacing the one that they never should have pulled up in the late 70's or early 80's I might add) and then turned towards the beach. I turned again towards the North and headed through Port Noarlunga and Christies Beach before turning up Dyson Rd.
I had to meet SheCycles at Marino Rocks and I thought that the best way to get there would be to use the Cove Rd. Well, I got stopped by a nail in my tire just at Lonsdale Hwy and decided to head back to the Veloway, which I knew would be (comparatively) free of debris. I was running late now... and I realised as I rode the Veloway in the reverse direction, that I had miscalculated how long it was going to take to get to Marino... but wait, there's more.
I turned towards the beach again, along the sea to vines trail that said 8km to Marino Rocks. No big deal... except that when I got back to the crossing at Lonsdale Hwy I lost the trail. There are no signs at that intersection (that I could see) telling you which way to go.
I headed into Hallett Cove, and got lost. I could not pick up the scent of that trail. I eventually found it again, with the help of a couple of school kids who knew (around abouts) where it was.
So off I head again, down the smooth path all the way to some bunting across the trail and a sign that said "Footpath Closed". I looked to the right. There was a sign that said "Pedestrians" with an arrow. I looked to the left... cul de sac. I guessed that they just didn't have enough space on their sign to put "and cyclists" and headed up to the old track, with much more debris and accompanying potholes, but when I got to the Hallett Cove train station, where there is a bridge to get across the train line, the bridge is inaccessible because of the rebuilding of the station. No signs telling me of any alternative crossing. Nothing.
What would you do? Well I decided to follow the bike lane. Wrong. That just heads out to Lonsdale Hwy and Cement hill. Try streets that head towards the train track to see if there is another crossing? wrong. That just leads to a lot of dead ends and the new knowledge that there is no alternative train track crossing between Hallett Cove station and Marino Rocks station.
And I was an hour late.
Eventually I found a local who was out for a stroll who told me that I had to head back in the other direction about 2 km (up hill and down dale) to cross the track at the bridge, and then retrace those 2 km on the other side of the track.
By the time I arrived at Marino Rocks I was so angry and upset I just collapsed in a heap.
WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE THE HALLETT COVE TO MARINO SECTION OF THE SEA TO VINES TRAIL UNTIL HALLETT COVE TRAIN STATION IS RE-OPENED.
AND if you work for the Dept of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure OR Marion City Council, FIX THIS SITUATION NOW! THIS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
IT will just end in tears.
Veloway was fun tho and the new cap was well and truly christened.
Blog you later.
I had to meet SheCycles at Marino Rocks and I thought that the best way to get there would be to use the Cove Rd. Well, I got stopped by a nail in my tire just at Lonsdale Hwy and decided to head back to the Veloway, which I knew would be (comparatively) free of debris. I was running late now... and I realised as I rode the Veloway in the reverse direction, that I had miscalculated how long it was going to take to get to Marino... but wait, there's more.
I turned towards the beach again, along the sea to vines trail that said 8km to Marino Rocks. No big deal... except that when I got back to the crossing at Lonsdale Hwy I lost the trail. There are no signs at that intersection (that I could see) telling you which way to go.
I headed into Hallett Cove, and got lost. I could not pick up the scent of that trail. I eventually found it again, with the help of a couple of school kids who knew (around abouts) where it was.
So off I head again, down the smooth path all the way to some bunting across the trail and a sign that said "Footpath Closed". I looked to the right. There was a sign that said "Pedestrians" with an arrow. I looked to the left... cul de sac. I guessed that they just didn't have enough space on their sign to put "and cyclists" and headed up to the old track, with much more debris and accompanying potholes, but when I got to the Hallett Cove train station, where there is a bridge to get across the train line, the bridge is inaccessible because of the rebuilding of the station. No signs telling me of any alternative crossing. Nothing.
What would you do? Well I decided to follow the bike lane. Wrong. That just heads out to Lonsdale Hwy and Cement hill. Try streets that head towards the train track to see if there is another crossing? wrong. That just leads to a lot of dead ends and the new knowledge that there is no alternative train track crossing between Hallett Cove station and Marino Rocks station.
And I was an hour late.
Eventually I found a local who was out for a stroll who told me that I had to head back in the other direction about 2 km (up hill and down dale) to cross the track at the bridge, and then retrace those 2 km on the other side of the track.
By the time I arrived at Marino Rocks I was so angry and upset I just collapsed in a heap.
WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO USE THE HALLETT COVE TO MARINO SECTION OF THE SEA TO VINES TRAIL UNTIL HALLETT COVE TRAIN STATION IS RE-OPENED.
AND if you work for the Dept of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure OR Marion City Council, FIX THIS SITUATION NOW! THIS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
IT will just end in tears.
Veloway was fun tho and the new cap was well and truly christened.
Blog you later.
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Comment by Clive Palfrey on June 24, 2010 at 22:32 -
Given all the crappy things cyclists have to put with in terms of broken infrastructure and S.A.s supposed policy of encouraging cycling you would think that the D.O.T. could employ somebody to answer a hotline and empower them to go or send somebody out to fixit.
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Comment by Michael Warner on June 24, 2010 at 23:18 -
My group got over the Hallett Cove train station ok last week - there was a bit of gravel on the east side and a gap in the fence on the west side. Too bad if it's blocked now.
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Comment by heather on June 25, 2010 at 12:22 -
Wombat, how shocking! No consideration for cyclists or that the bicycle is a legal mode of transport.
Clive, I haver had difficulty getting cycling hazards fixed. It took 12 years of repeated requests to several authorities before an SA Water cover-lid was replaced in North Adelaide on a route frequented by cyclists. In the last two years I have started regular reporting of cycling hazards, and still encounter difficulty with slow responses or none. Then there are other difficulties. I twice reported to local council a hazard I saw on The Parade, Norwood, before council responded six months later that the appropriate authority was DTEI. Not everyone would know this. Since Sep-2009 I have been trying to get a missing cover-lid replaced at the intersection of Franklin and King William Streets. I contacted ACC and SA Water who did not pass the message on or respond for a while. Later learnt that the missing cover-lid was part of a gas mains. The gas hotline refused to take my hazard message. I contacted the Energy Ombudsman (not his brief) and was put in touch with Envestra. How many people know that Envestra is responsible for gas mains in SA? Envestra gave me a date in Jan-2010 for the lid to be replaced. Jun-2010 and not replaced, although a hazard for the many cyclists who use this intersection.
Examples like these were the catalyst for me writing to the Minister for Transport, and the Minister for Water Security, asking for central reporting like DTEI who then pass the message on to the appropriate authority. Not acted on. In the meantime, multiple cycling hazards due to SA Water infrastructure that I reported last year have not been fixed.
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Comment by Michael Warner on June 27, 2010 at 14:06
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Sunday update: It was blocked today, according to the bloke standing guard in the car park against the likes of us. At least we found out how to get to the Cove Rd bridge via the back streets...
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Comment by Wombat on July 12, 2010 at 21:29 -
At least you got a reply from them. I have written several emails about different things in the past few weeks and have received no reply from them to date.
The detour is not "adjacent" the train station at all. It is about 2km back towards Noarlunga with no signage to tell you that is the case. Friggin Beaurocraps!
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