[Forum] Having just completed a bike ride from Mannering Park to Lake Munmorah and back, I can tell you that it is so obvious that we need the connection from Mannering Park to Chain Valley Bay completed as soon as possible.
I had to ride nearly seven kilometres on the main roads, Ruttleys Rd and the Pacific Hwy, and even though they weren’t as busy as usual, most drivers do 80kmh.
A narrow bike lane with no four strand wire between you and the traffic certainly doesn’t instill confidence.
You just hope that every driver remembers, and obeys, the one metre rule or, where there is a fence, that you will not be squashed between the road and that fence by a distracted driver.
Next, is the entry and exit on to the highway from Mannering Park, and you worry that a driver will be looking behind for oncoming traffic and see you on the way out.
Trying to cross the highway with all the traffic at the lights means trusting your life to the goodwill and ethics of the motoring public.
Then there’s the entry to Vales Rd from Ruttleys Rd, with an 80kmph speed limit, blind crest and two lanes of traffic, what a nightmare!
It’s no wonder most kids from here catch the bus or are dropped off at school by their parents.
How more settled would they be after a nice half to three-quarters of an hour bike ride through beautiful scenery.
Once at Chain Valley Bay, it is a new world.
It was so pleasurable to ride safely on a shared pathway in the loop from the highway to Chain Valley Bay South on to Lake Munmorah and return.
It seems so inequitable and grossly unfair that all of the people here, particularly school age children, cannot enjoy this same sense of safety, independence and freedom.
Mannering Park Progress Association has been doggedly trying to achieve this small piece of infrastructure for over 30 years and know that it would open up a whole new world of enjoyment and health benefits to our residents because we can attest to the use of our small piece of waterfront shared pathway.
We will not give up, but we wish there had been some foresight to complete this missing link earlier so that, when this COVID-19 hit, we would have all had ready access to some extensive exercise options, we could even do our grocery shopping in safety.
Maybe there will be a focus on this type of infrastructure by the tiers of Government when the COVID-19 restrictions are gradually eased and they are trying to re-boot the economy while helping people secure jobs.
If that is the case, we have our collective fingers crossed that we are up there as a priority to fill in the missing link, not just for ourselves, because, post this pandemic it is my estimation that travel will be largely inbound and it would certainly be a drawcard for tourists too.
Email, Apr 20
Mannering Park Progress Association
Secretary, Sue Wynn