Road Closures and Altered Traffic Conditions

TRAFFIC ALERT RELEASE

In order to provide riders with a suitable road environment while participating in the 3 Peaks Challenge, Bicycle Victoria, in conjunction with Vic Roads, has come up with a traffic management strategy with the following objectives in mind:

• Provide a suitable road environment for riders, where the risk of collision with other riders and road users, such as cars, buses and trucks, is low.
• Provide a well identified route, by implementing specific event signage and using qualified traffic controllers, to identify road closures, altered traffic conditions and any hazards to both cyclists and other road users.
• Have minimal impact on the local residents, businesses, holiday makers and traffic by providing alternate routes to road closures and access to the roads with altered traffic conditions.
• Effectively communicate the road closures and altered traffic conditions that will be implemented on the event day so that all possible road users will be notified.

The rider route has been divided into eight Sectors. The Route Sector Map and Route Sector Description Table below provide detailed information relating to each Sector and how the traffic will be managed. The Sectors have been determined according to certain factors such as the type of road, road characteristics, townships and expected traffic volumes. These factors, in consultation with Vic Roads, have dictated the road closures and altered traffic conditions to be implemented on event day.

In order to adhere to the time allocated for road closures and or altered traffic conditions, Sector cut-off times for riders will be enforced, where riders must complete the Sectors before the road conditions are returned back to normal. Bicycle Victoria will have provisions to collect participants and return them to a nominated location should they pull out or not make it to the end of a Sector by the cut off time. A detailed Course Analysis For Riders can help you plan your ride and set targets to achieve the ultimate challenge and meet Sector cut-off times.

Important note for all riders: The 3 Peaks Challenge is a ride, not a race. While we will do implement road closures and altered traffic conditions for your safety, riders must at all times, in any Sector of the 3 Peaks Challenge route, adhere to all legislative road rules for cyclists. Please take the time to visit this comprehensive list of road rules for cyclists. Whether you are riding on a closed road or open road, the road rules for cyclists DO NOT change. We cannot guarantee that all vehicles will cooperate with the traffic conditions we put in place, and furthermore we need to allow for event and emergency vehicle access in case of an emergency.

Route Sector Map

 

Route Sector Description Table

Sector	Road Name	Location	Traffic Conditions	Sector Traffic Condition Implementation Time	Sector Traffic Condition Removal Time	Rider Sector Cut-off Time	Road Access Allowance
1	Bogong High Plains Road	Falls Creek to Mt Beauty	Full Road Closure	5:30am	9:00am	8:45am	Emergency Vehicle Access only
2	Kiewa Valley Highway	Mt Beauty to Tawonga Gap Road turnoff	No road closure, altered traffic conditions enforced	7:30am	9:30am	9:15am	All Vehicles
3	Tawonga Gap Road	Tawonga to Germantown	Full Road Closure	7:30am	10:30am	10:15am	Emergency Vehicle Access only
4	Great Alpine Road	Germantown to Harrietville	No road closure, altered traffic conditions enforced	8:30am	11:30am	11:15am	All Vehicles
5	Great Alpine Road	Harrietville to Hotham Heights	No road closure, altered traffic conditions enforced	8:45am	1:30pm	1:15pm	All Vehicles
6	Great Alpine Road/ Day Avenue/ Omeo Highway	Hotham Heights to Benambra Road	No road closure, altered traffic conditions enforced	10:30am	4:30pm	4:15pm	All Vehicles
7	Omeo Highway	Benambra Road to Bogong High Plains Road turnoff	No road closure, altered traffic conditions enforced	12:00pm	6:30pm	6:15pm	All Vehicles
8	Bogong High Plains Road	Bogong High Plains Road turnoff to Falls Creek	No road closure, altered traffic conditions enforced	1:30pm	8:00pm	7:45pm	All Vehicles

Traffic Diversions

The road closures and altered traffic conditions to be implemented for the 3 Peaks Challenge will result in the relocation of traffic, wherever possible, onto the surrounding arterial road network. Traffic diversions are however not possible for some Sectors and therefore additional measures and controls will be put in place. The table below details the possible alternative routes for each Sector. Where diversions are not possible, variable message signs (VMS) will be placed to warn and prevent traffic from being affected by the roads closures.

Sector	Road Name	Location	Traffic Conditions	Traffic Diversion/s
1	Bogong High Plains Road	Falls Creek to Mt Beauty	Full Road Closure	None available
2	Kiewa Valley Highway	Mt Beauty to Tawonga Gap Road turnoff	No road closure, altered traffic conditions enforced	Traffic leaving Mt Beauty – diversion along Damms Road and Mountain Creek Road, re-entering Kiewa Vally Highway at Tawonga
3	Tawonga Gap Road	Tawonga to Germantown	Full Road Closure	Traffic to/from Bright/Mt Beauty – diversion along Great Alpine Road/Kiewa Valley Highway and Happy Valley and Running Creek Roads. Local traffic to use minor back roads to access properties – Back Germantown Road and Old Harrietville Road
4	Great Alpine Road	Germantown to Harrietville	No road closure, altered traffic conditions enforced	Traffic to Omeo access Tawonga Gap Road, Kiewa Valley Highway, Bogong High Plains Road and Omeo Highway
5	Great Alpine Road	Harrietville to Hotham Heights	No road closure, altered traffic conditions enforced	Traffic to Omeo access Tawonga Gap Road, Kiewa Valley Highway, Bogong High Plains Road and Omeo Highway
6	Great Alpine Road/ Day Avenue/ Omeo Highway	Hotham Heights to Benambra Road	No road closure, altered traffic conditions enforced	None required – road open under altered traffic conditions
7	Omeo Highway	Benambra Road to Bogong High Plains Road turnoff	No road closure, altered traffic conditions enforced	Traffic to/from Mitta Mitta/Mt Beauty diversion along Mountain Creek Road and The Hollow Way
8	Bogong High Plains Road	Bogong High Plains Road turnoff to Falls Creek	No road closure, altered traffic conditions enforced	None available