Suitable Alternatives

The City of Sydney and Woollahra Municipal Council will soon replace the Cutler Footway and refurbish the surrounding ageing infrastructure.

The new design will provide a new road pavement on top of the existing surface of the bridge, creating a foundation for a new footway.

With main works to start mid 2019 and some time required to implement the various stages, the City of Sydney has provided details of alternative pedestrian access on their website.

1.  For direct access between Burton and Liverpool streets, you can use the stairs on the other side of the bridge. This route is a similar distance and includes 44 steps.

2.  They also provide details of a step-free route which they advise is about 250m longer than the direct route. They state they will continue to monitor these routes to ensure they are safe, clean and well lit. 

3.  Transport for NSW is providing free bus travel across the bridge. 

cutler footway

This seems like a pretty comprehensive plan.

What are your thoughts?  Are these alternatives sufficient?  Are there any requirements you can think of that aren’t covered by these 3 alternatives?

As a bonus, while googling Cutler Footway, I came across this wonderful page outlining Remnants of the Bondi Trams.

Any time you travel along a road that has bitumen in the middle of the road and concrete at the sides, it’s probably an old tram route. It’s everywhere in Sydney’s inner suburbs.

They also mention the importance of cuttings and rounded shopfronts to allow tram movements.  Check it out!