M7 Safety Alert Thread

[LateStarter]

I did the northern road today, from Penrith to Narellan and back. Did one direction on the bike path and one on the road shoulder.

The bikepath is pretty good, not too many intersections, and most of them you can roll through pretty easily, due to lack of traffic. However, one really annoying thing, the bikepath changes from side to side, seemingly at random, and with no warning. A few times I ended up at a dead end, only to realise I was supposed to cross over at the last intersection, even though there was no signage

The road shoulder is great. Extremely wide, smooth hotmix, and not much debris at all.

Good news re shoulder, hopefully they are slow in realising their mistake, probably left wide & smooth so they can convert it to a 3rd motor vehicle lane when the induced demand soon fills new bits up. I will give it a go during the "quieter" holiday period

[robbo mcs]

I did the northern road today, from Penrith to Narellan and back. Did one direction on the bike path and one on the road shoulder.

The bikepath is pretty good, not too many intersections, and most of them you can roll through pretty easily, due to lack of traffic. However, one really annoying thing, the bikepath changes from side to side, seemingly at random, and with no warning. A few times I ended up at a dead end, only to realise I was supposed to cross over at the last intersection, even though there was no signage

The road shoulder is great. Extremely wide, smooth hotmix, and not much debris at all.

Good news re shoulder, hopefully they are slow in realising their mistake, probably left wide & smooth so they can convert it to a 3rd motor vehicle lane when the induced demand soon fills new bits up. I will give it a go during the "quieter" holiday period

That jogged my memory, I forgot to mention that the last couple of kms at both ends, the shoulder actually is a bus lane. I rode on it, as you are entitled to, and didn’t see any buses. It is wide enough for a third lane the rest of the way, so I suspect they may have plans for it to turn into a full length bus lane, once the new airport opens?

[vosadrian]

I did full M7 on Sunday. I got the flood gates (from North) and they were open, but water over the path so I just rode through it. The other side had the gates "half" open. Did someone cut the locks and open them, or had M7 just not closed them yet?

[g-boaf]

I saw one of the gates half open but some other people reckoned it was flooded so I didn't bother riding through there.

No idea what happened with the gate being half open.

A solution could be to install a huge remote controlled pop-up barrier system, totally impossible for people to bypass. It might cost millions and millions, but it will be impossible to bypass.

Alternatively, the problem of the flooding could be fixed...

[vosadrian]

It was flooded when I went through... probably about 3 inches of water. No big deal if riding slow and steeering straight.

[g-boaf]

Fortunately there are easy diversions around the flooding. And if coffee is important, Lux coffee shop on Cowpasture Road nearly beside the M7 is far superior.

[g-boaf]

The construction site at Trivett St (from Victoria Street Wetherill Park) where the new roundabout is being built is still not finished, so Chandos Rd (the diversion for the closed Prospect Dam cycleway) is still not available.

You can however walk through the construction zone and get through anyway.

[vosadrian]

I rode through the water again yesterday. Gates open on both sides with a similar 2-3 inches of water over the path. Got a PR on Strava heading south even with the walking pace through the water! Nice to have a tail wind down!

[robbo mcs]

I went for a very rare ride with my son today, as he lives overseas and only here for a short break. We went partly along the M7. He had a flat tyre, and has luck would have it, it was about 100m from the bubbler, and the tools that have been installed, so we walked down there and did it.

I can report the tools have not be vandalised and are all in working order after a couple of months. The pump is good, although a little stiff to put on the valve. We had to pump the tyre up to 100psi to get the beads to seat properly, and that was not a problem.

[g-boaf]

Not quite on the M7, but nearby in the regional park just beside the equestrian centre I spotted some deer the other day so be careful of your speed down the hill with those speed bumps in case they run across in front of you.

[AndrewCowley]

Not quite on the M7, but nearby in the regional park just beside the equestrian centre I spotted some deer the other day so be careful of your speed down the hill with those speed bumps in case they run across in front of you.

Ever come across bush turkeys whilst cycling? They are batshit crazy. They are aware you are coming and stand still. You think great I’ll pass by. As you are passing the stupid thing gets spooked and decides to run out in front of you. Need to give them a wide berth.

Not sure about deer though.

[robbo mcs]

Not quite on the M7, but nearby in the regional park just beside the equestrian centre I spotted some deer the other day so be careful of your speed down the hill with those speed bumps in case they run across in front of you.

Loads of Roos around prospect dam as well atm. They have always been there, but seem more numerous since they reopened it.
I guess all the rain and mild weather has made the bush very lush, and good conditions for all kinds of wildlife to breed and thrive.

[g-boaf]

Not quite on the M7, but nearby in the regional park just beside the equestrian centre I spotted some deer the other day so be careful of your speed down the hill with those speed bumps in case they run across in front of you.

Ever come across bush turkeys whilst cycling? They are batshit crazy. They are aware you are coming and stand still. You think great I’ll pass by. As you are passing the stupid thing gets spooked and decides to run out in front of you. Need to give them a wide berth.

Not sure about deer though.

Yes, saw one a couple of days ago. Was pretty wary of it.

Deer I'm unsure about - but I was pretty cautious when seeing it. Yesterday I saw a heap of kangaroos at Prospect, actually had to stop because the things were completely terrified and going all over the place.

[AndrewCowley]

Was that the part of Prospect that’s been closed for ages? Maybe the roos got used to having it all to themselves.

Other wildlife sightings for me included an echnida crossing in front of me. Cute little harmless thing.

[g-boaf]

Was that the part of Prospect that’s been closed for ages? Maybe the roos got used to having it all to themselves.

Other wildlife sightings for me included an echnida crossing in front of me. Cute little harmless thing.

The bridge at the top, yes. Now it’s back until February.

[robbo mcs]

I saw a group of around 10 domestic chickens walking around the bikepath this morning. There used to be loads of poultry farms around that area, but now most of them are long since demolished, or decommisioned. So sadly, not a recreation of the movie "Chicken Run", although that would have been nice

[g-boaf]

I understand there was a serious crash on the southern end of the M7 near where the flood gates are yesterday, and another less serious one this morning (at low speed).

It’s apparently extremely slippery on the shaded underpass sections. With so much rain nothing is drying out properly and reports of slime/algae on the path.

So be super super careful or take diversions elsewhere.

I’m not riding at the moment but just putting this out there as a courtesy.

[robbo mcs]

I saw on this evenings news a female cyclist was injured and taken to hospital following a crash with a motorbike on the M7 cycleway.

Hope she is ok. Sadly, it was only a matter of time. I have been buzzed by youths on trailbikes several times, and have found abandoned and presumably stolen trailbikes in the scrub off the path, which I have reported. I know others on here have experienced similar.

[g-boaf]

I saw on this evenings news a female cyclist was injured and taken to hospital following a crash with a motorbike on the M7 cycleway.

Hope she is ok. Sadly, it was only a matter of time. I have been buzzed by youths on trailbikes several times, and have found abandoned and presumably stolen trailbikes in the scrub off the path, which I have reported. I know others on here have experienced similar.

Abandoned trailbikes in the scrub? That's new. yes, we've all seen the trailbikes on there, I've attended to poor guys knocked down by them as well, numerous others too. I don't know what can be done about it.

There are so many entrances onto the M7 so it's hard to make entrances more difficult to access the path on trailbikes. And if you do, you block other things like velomobiles, etc.

[zebee]

Police with drones. Regular patrols of the road looking for motorbikes and guiding cops to them. Probably ones on trail bikes themselves or ebikes.

If the rider dumps the bike they can still be followed by the drone.

In my ideal world the drone would dump indelible ink all over the culprit... Dayglo pink ink for preference. Accompanied by a terrible smell.

[mikesbytes]

Adding extra lanes to a motorway will usually result in the contract being extended, so adding more lanes doesn't necessarily have to do with usage.

[g-boaf]

Just be careful on the M7 at Eastern Creek (near the waste centre) because a rather bad magpie has taken residence in that area (same place as the infamous old one).

This one flies at ground level towards people (or swoops from behind).

[g-boaf]

Looks like the cycleway will remain open around Elizabeth Drive while the construction works are happening according to the signs on the M7 cycleway.

[NZSouthie]

Warning about drive-by, hit-and-run, bashing on M7 cycleway today 10 Nov 2023 4:30 pm a few hundred metres East of Sunnyholt Rd.

Riding my bicycle East along cycleway, two powerful e-mopeds heading West on the cycleway, at speed (30-40 kph). As the vehicles neared they steered towards me and at the last moment the closet person swung a helmet at full force striking my arm. Fortunately, I did not crash and my arm is not broken but this was a serious assault. While sitting in pain at side of the cycleway another cyclist stopped to enquire and said the same had happened to her but she was able to avoid being hit.

I reported the incident to the NSW police within 10 minutes and they sent a callout. I also logged the incident at the Police Station in Mount Druit, who said this the first such event they had heard of.

I hope this is not a trend, but extra caution might be good when approached by motorised vehicles on the M7 cycleway.

[g-boaf]

Warning about drive-by, hit-and-run, bashing on M7 cycleway today 10 Nov 2023 4:30 pm a few hundred metres East of Sunnyholt Rd.

Riding my bicycle East along cycleway, two powerful e-mopeds heading West on the cycleway, at speed (30-40 kph). As the vehicles neared they steered towards me and at the last moment the closet person swung a helmet at full force striking my arm. Fortunately, I did not crash and my arm is not broken but this was a serious assault. While sitting in pain at side of the cycleway another cyclist stopped to enquire and said the same had happened to her but she was able to avoid being hit.

I reported the incident to the NSW police within 10 minutes and they sent a callout. I also logged the incident at the Police Station in Mount Druit, who said this the first such event they had heard of.

I hope this is not a trend, but extra caution might be good when approached by motorised vehicles on the M7 cycleway.

A friend and I were passed today heading north around Elizabeth Drive area by a rattling "Harley" style electric motorised bicycle-esque thing. Definitely way more powerful than 250w because the other guy with me paced it and he's got serious, serious power.

It is impossible to Police the M7 and protect against the motorbikes and others that get on there and do bad things, it's 39km end to end and by the time anything is reported to Police, the offenders are long gone. You'd need Police patrols permanently on the cycleway and I cannot see that happening.

It would be worthwhile since a lot of local residents ride on there too or go out walking or running.