M4 cycleway

M4 cycleway
Location Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Trailheads
Use Cycling

The M4 cycleway is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians that is generally aligned with the M4 Motorway in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The eastern terminus of the cycleway is in the Sydney Olympic Park, while the western terminus is in South Wentworthville.[1]

Route

An off-road shared cyclepath paralleling the M4 runs from Wing Parade in Newington to Fox St in Holroyd, with connections to bicycle routes to Parramatta and Olympic Park at either end. Some road crossings required. Between 30 and 40 cyclists used the M4 cyclepath at Holroyd West on an average weekday in the 12 months to February 2014.[2]

Heading west from Olympic Park to Parramatta with street descriptions where you can join:

From Newington to Lidcombe, follow the Louise Sauvage shared pathway which goes underneath the M4 and gas pipeline. Note that the path here can be hazardous at points of high tide due to Haslam's Creek. Emergence is the path running alongside Bunnings, Lidcombe. Follow this path west as it joins the main cycle path of Adderley Street East, Lidcombe. Auburn Council was upgrading this path on October 2012 so expect fencing and detritus as they complete the upgrades.

From Lidcombe to Silverwater, follow the end of the shared cycle path from Adderley Street East, Lidcombe to where it ends at Silverwater Road, Silverwater. Please take extreme care as there are cars exiting the M4 at 90 km/h and they may not brake so efficiently at the pedestrian crossing where bikes can cross. The lights at Silverwater Road/Adderley Street East are shared pedestrian and bike lights. Only 2 to 3 cyclists can fit on this traffic median so be warned if taking a large group.

From Silverwater to Auburn, crossing Silverwater Road, join the path at Adderley Street West, Auburn. Auburn Council was upgrading this path on October 2012 so expect fencing and detritus as they complete the upgrades. The path goes uphill past Auburn North Public School to the Stubbs Street roundabout at Silverwater where the crossing can be heavy due to rat runners of the M4 during peak traffic times. Take due care crossing Stubbs Street. Continue heading west along Adderley Street West, Auburn, past the old RTA headquarters which monitored the M4 when it had tollgates. The end of this particular path leads to the junction of the Duck Creek/Duck River cycleway. If heading south, the path leads to Bunnings, Auburn and Hungry Jack's Auburn. If heading north-west, the path continues to follow the M4.

From Auburn to Rosehill, follow the relatively scenic and expensive route of the Duck River cycleway by crossing the bridge over this hardworking tributary. Signs along the path explain the history of the industrial heartland of the city including a now-defunct Duck River ferry service that allowed passengers and freight to alight. You will be crossing old freight tracks. The end of this part of the pathway is the quiet, back streets of Rosehill, parallel to Parramatta Road, where parked alongside are carnival vans, L-plate drivers and an L-plate motorcycle school.

From Rosehill to Harris Park, follow the signs west that continue onwards to Parramatta. The start of this path adjoins an L-plate motorcycle school and a small corkscrew climb to reach the bridge that runs overhead of James Ruse Drive and on the northern side of the M4 (that is, the cycle path runs alongside the city-bound lanes of the motorway). The bridge is a remarkable piece of industrial art and allows you to ride past and be protected from the traffic. The path is secure at this stage and it wends down underneath the M4. The path runs through the middle of the M4 cement columns which forms a scenic reminder - albeit suburban - of the functionality of the path.

From Harris Park to Parramatta, the path continues to follow the cement colonnade of the M4. On either side of the path are access points for Harris Park residents to enter the M4 cycleway. The ground on either path is barren but there are plenty of pigeons taking residence. The M4 dissects suburbia so the path follows canals and like the Cooks River cycleway, provide glimpses into the backyards of the residents. There are three suburban streets that the path crosses at Harris Park with the last street before the Parramatta Rd/Woodville Rd junction being rather busy. The path goes behind car salesyards and underneath the Parramatta-Liverpool railway bridge. Once the path hits the junction, there are several alternatives for the cyclist to continue, mirroring the motorists' junction, including one sign to Liverpool.

From Parramatta to South Wentworthville, the path to the M4 is signposted and continues to head west. The columns disappear to make way for some verdant sports grounds and industrial parking lots. This part of the M4 is bright, clean and a cyclist's dream. On the path, there is one entry point section on the right (if heading west) for the more adventurous cyclist to ride on the M4 itself and share the road with cars. There is a junction to turn left to Merrylands or right through an underpass to Parramatta. The off-road path now continues westward under the Pitt Street overpass via an expensive path stepped into the M4 retaining wall and, after crossing Burnett St at traffic lights, at Rita Street it seamlessly joins the Parramatta-Liverpool T-Way path.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Cycleway Finder". Roads & Maritime Services (Version 3 ed.). Government of New South Wales. 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
  2. ↑ "Cycling statistics". Roads and Maritime Services. Government of New South Wales. March 2016.

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/4/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.