Casino to Bentley stage of the Northern Rivers Rail Trail officially opened
The official opening of the Casino to Bentley stage of the Northern Rivers Rail Trail was held at the Old Casino Station precinct on Saturday 23 March 2024.
The event was well attended by the local community, as well as many visitors from the nearby district and beyond, including a significant contingent of Queenslanders. RTA was represented by John O’Brien, Kathy Furney, Sam Reich and Stephen Brown, although several other RTA shirts could also be seen in the crowd.
At 9.30am, an entertaining display by a Japanese drum band from Byron Bay woke up the crowd. Casino mayor, and rail trail supporter Robert Mustow, then set the scene, followed by Federal member for Page, and long-time rail trail supporter, Kevin Hogan.
The crowd also heard from the state member for Lismore, Janelle Saffin, and the general manager of RVC, Vaughan MacDonald, followed by short talks from John O’Brien from RTA, Tim Coen from RT4NSW, and Pat Grier from the NRRT supporters’ group.
The ribbon was cut at 11am by the mayor, accompanied by the Council officials and the politicians. The crowd was then led out onto the rail trail by four of the “Cycling Without Age” trishaws and their passengers, with refreshments provided at several locations along the 13km trail to Bentley.
RTA volunteers and NRRT supporters group manned an information stand at the event, providing brochures, information, and advice to people in attendance. There were lots of smiles and colourful shirts among the large crowd of trail users as they walked, talked and rode on this new asset for the region.
Details of the trail include the following:
- 13 kilometers of trail, mainly crushed yellow gravel surface, with hot mix and concrete near the two ends. The design running width is 3 meters, with 2.5 meters minimum for the bridges.
- 7 bridges were installed or upgraded, and two were bypassed.
- The large steel Back Creek Bridge at the northern end will connect with the Lismore to Bentley section expected to be completed later this year. It has not yet been resurfaced, but Council are finalising designs and are confident they will receive funding to complete this work in time to connect to Lismore.
- One tunnel, which is not accessible due to 2 colonies of threatened species of microbats present. The climb up and over the tunnel is steep but rideable, and views from the top are superb.
- Three carparks were built along the way with the capacity for 207 cars
- 14km of fencing was used, mainly where the formation narrows with steep embankments
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One comment on “Casino to Bentley stage of the Northern Rivers Rail Trail officially opened”
Rode this section on Easter Thursday. Congrats to the designers and constructors for a first class job!
Only 27kms return, but it augers well for the extension of this section on to Lismore, hopefully later this year or 2025.
As the photos show, it's a smooth gravelly surface, with only the slightest of inclines.
The short, steep climb over the tunnel gives those fortunate enough to be riding an e-bike the opportunity to release the full power of their machines!