Well with all of the bush fires down in Victoria, with a particularly fierce one centred around Wadong the rumors have started flying on the Internet regarding whether the Australian Marathon Champs have been cancelled or postponed till and alternative venue can be found.
The event website is claiming that the trails have been undamaged for the most part by the fires, but a number of people are very suspect about this. Also the rumor has started for an alternative promoter to run the event.
Other than the overriding tragedy of the bush fires, and toll on human life is the loss of a number of areas of fantastic riding in Victoria due to the fires. While this is trivial in the overall big picture, alot of efforts goes into forming these trails and maintaining them.
Facts
We are set to loose a percentage of the fantastic local trails at Majura and Sparrow due to road realignment. The first is due to the straightening of Majura Road and the second due to the realignment of Kings Highway.
Both areas are considered hallow ground to riders, with Majura the spiritual home of MTBing in the ACT. What frustrates me as an engineer is the lack of foresight that goes into alot of roading projects, either through budget constraints or poor design. Majura is combination of both factors, coming into play which is typical in the ACT. However Kings Highway is an RTA road, with just plain bad design! Over the years this particular road has claimed a multitude of lives due to poor geometric design and bad driving habits of motorists.
CORC is involved in the consultation process with ACTPLA and SMEC (the consultants) and will be fighting the good fight for riders however the proposal will eventually go to public consultation, so we will get our chance to have a say.
Proposed Realignment Majura Road
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