Dubbo Tracker Riley Cycleway extension

The opening ceremony was held at Dundullimal Homestead due to wet weather.  The opening speech and ribbon cutting was performed by Dubbo’s mayor Matthew Dickerson, who is a keen cyclist.  The ceremony was attended by Local State member Troy Grant, Dubbo City Council General Manager Mark Riley, Director of Technical Services Stewart McLeod, Dubbo City Councillors Peter Bartley and Rod Towney as well as other invited guests.  This was followed by a morning tea at Dundullimal homestead.

The Tracker Riley Cycleway extension project is a joint initiative of Dubbo City Council and the Dubbo Bicycle User Group.  The Dubbo BUG made the submission to council in 2006, which involved a proposal to integrate a section of the disused Dubbo to Molong railway corridor within the city’s shared path network and led to successful applications by Council for project funding from the Dept of Infrastructure’s Regional Local Community Infrastructure Program and the Roads and Maritime Services NSW Bicycle Program, enabling completion of the project in two stages in 2010 and 2012.

The Regional Local Community Infrastructure Program granted Dubbo City Council $793,000, the Roads and Maritime Services contributed $392,000, whilst Dubbo City Council contributed the remaining $903,167 to see the project through to completion.  As an extra bonus to the cycleway users, the council had enough funds left to seal the complete 3.5km of new trail.  The trail has seen an explosion of people availing themselves of the new facility.  Observers have noticed many people that are obviously new to bike riding out on the weekends in huge numbers.  Many people are also using the unofficial walking track next to the railway line in Margaret Cres to go an extra 1.5km to High St.  This track will eventually be part of the third and final stage of the cycleway, which will take trail users all the way to the showgrounds near the centre of the city.

For the full trail map and description go here