New Footscray station bridge now being partially demolished
This is Footscray railway station’s William Cooper bridge, pictured just after it opened in 2010. It’s almost brand new.
Preparatory work on replacing the old bridge had began in April 2009, with the first bridge spans put into place in around August 2009. It was opened in April 2010, at a cost of $15 million.
Meanwhile, the Regional Rail Link (RRL) project was first publicly mooted in 2006, and recommended as part of the Victorian Transport Plan in 2008. It gained the bulk of its funding (and thus the green light to proceed) from the Federal government in May 2009, with a preliminary route design being announced in June 2009.
But despite the RRL project having been given the go-ahead before the bridge started major construction, apparently nobody on the bridge project team thought to check if the it was long enough to handle the extra tracks and platforms likely to be built as part of RRL…
The bridge is not long enough.
The northern part of the bridge is being demolished, less than two years after it opened, so it can be extended a few extra metres over the new tracks. Harking back to a couple of years ago when the new bridge was built parallel to the remains of the old one, a temporary bridge has been constructed.
Your tax payer dollars at work.
The silver-lining is the upgrade will apparently make some improvements, including escalators and better weather-proofing… it’s unclear why the bridge design didn’t include these in the first place.
Of course in an ideal world, the bridge wouldn’t have been built in that form at all — as part of the wider Footscray $62 million redevelopment programme they should have looked at a Perth-style train/bus interchange which would fix the problem of most of Footscray’s buses terminating several hundred metres away from the station, at a myriad of different bus stops.
- Regional Rail Link: Footscray Railway Station design
- Fair-go for Footscray Rail Residents: Colander bridge
- PTUA Problem of the day 5/6/2011: Footscray’s brand new bridge won’t fit the new platforms
- 2/7/2012: Regional Rail Link update: Olympic Doughnuts to stay at Footscray station
Update Monday: It’s been pointed out to me that once construction starts it’s hard to stop and change the design, and that the RRL design for Footscray station may not have been known before about October 2009 (which is certainly when I first heard it would be extra platforms on the northern side). Fair enough.
But I still think the point here is that as soon as RRL got funded/underway (in May), someone should have flagged the issue with the bridge project team immediately, and construction halted until it was known where the extra platforms would go, and whether the bridge needed to be modified.
End of the week pics
Pretty funny: Southern Cross Station has departure signs sponsored by Red Rooster. In part because they show less information, they actually have fewer errors than the official signs — but beware — it appears they don’t show trains departing in less than 10 minutes (because they want you to think there’s time to go and buy a snack from them).
(More on these signs at Marcus Wong’s blog)
Interesting… ummm… tree watchamacallit in Footscray:
Last of my birthday gifts was last night (thank you M): superb tickets to Bill Bailey. Very funny stuff — go see him if you get the chance. Row AA was about four rows from the front. Fantastic.
Hamer Hall is very impressive… we made sure to go in early to admire the new renovation.
Here’s what happens when you try and run a red light, but don’t make it across.
Is it just me who finds these fake birds at Bunnings a bit creepy when viewed en masse?
Footscray Fire Station: Old and new
Sometimes it feels like you might be waiting until doomsday for the bus
Pic taken this morning, if you wondered.
Disclaimer: actually bus 223 is pretty frequent, because it’s a former tram route.
(Spotted by J.)
Update: BBC News: ‘Rapture’: Believers perplexed after prediction fails
Cavaliers in Footscray
Cavaliers in Footscray.
Franco Cozzo
If you’re ever at Footscray Station on the footbridge (the one they’re going to have to knock down extend, even though they just built it), and you look towards the east, you’ll see something from a bygone era.
You might just be able to make out the words “Franco Cozzo” on an off-white building in the distance.
Yes, Franco Cozzo still exists, in Brunswick and Footscray, but the perhaps once-grand building (at least in Footscray, where it is called “Franco Cozzo House”, no less) is looking a bit the worse for wear.
It’s not in a great location, either — a bit distant from everything else in Footscray, and on a traffic sewer, with no passing pedestrians and no parking. When I’ve been going past, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a soul going in.
And I haven’t had a look inside myself, as I must confess, that style of furniture just doesn’t appeal to me.
Judging from what can be seen in the window, it’s the same stuff as in the old adverts, which have surfaced on Youtube:
And the man himself (at least as recently as 2006) can still do the spiel:
Sights from the Footscray station pedestrian bridge
The Footscray station pedestrian bridge opened earlier this year. As noted in this Age article, part of it will have to be demolished to cater for the Regional Fast Rail project (even though the RFR project was funded before the bridge was built… hello, forward planning).
Anyway, there are some great views from the top of the bridge. Here are some of them.
View to the Westgate bridge…
View to the docks
View to the city
View to the Footscray market (be thankful the smell can’t be reproduced online)
View to the doughnut van and the shops.
The crane is a sign of things to come — Footscray is one of six suburban Central Activities Districts, and is likely to be heavily developed in coming years. The first highrise buildings are going up already.
And the empty land in the foreground will make way for the new platforms and station plaza — though I’ve been assured the doughnut vendor will be looked after.
I’m terribly sorry: the one I took of the view to Franco Cozzo didn’t come out. Will go back and do it again soon.
Why some of the locals don’t like Cup Day
It’s not hard to see why some of the Footscray and Maribyrnong residents nearby to Flemington aren’t that keen on the big race days. These pictures are from Derby Day:
Sorry, I missed the pic of the drunk guys walking up the middle of the road, goading motorists, and the couple arguing in the back of the cab.
