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The HarbourLink vision was created to address the major climb from the deck of the Sydney Harbour Bridge cycleway along the Warringah Freeway through to the Falcon Street (Military Rd) bridge above the freeway and linking into the adjacent St Leonards Park.  The map (copyright) was produced by council's consultants, however with the announcement of the Lane Cove Tunnel Project that incorporated a 7.5km long SUP (shared user path / cycleway) from Naremburn via Epping Rd (Lane Cove) through to North Ryde, there is now the need to complete the 3km long 'missing link' through to the Sydney Harbour Bridge cycleway. 

Consequently it is proposed to extend the SUP / cycleway further north along the freeway corridor past the Cammeray Golf Course, under Miller St, then elevated above the Brook St on-ramp to connect to the recently completed SUP (shared user path.  The PricewaterhouseCoopers / SKM $168,037 study into this "missing link" will be finalised in March.

HarbourLink was developed using RTA and North Sydney Council maps of the Warringah freeway corridor, incorporating detailed height information.  The HarbourLink project would extend the existing Sydney Harbour Bridge cycleway along the railway alignment then pass beneath the railway line to the southern end of the extension of Blue Street (old tramway reservation).

From here, as well as connecting to the North Sydney CBD, the structure would curve above the adjacent Pacific Highway as well as nearby High Street, then Mount Street, proceeding to the reservation at the end of Berry Street, where there would be a second connection to the CBD.

HarbourLink from the eastern extremity of Berry St would return to be an elevated structure, gently curving partly left above the Berry Street freeway on-ramp (northbound) to the western reservation of the freeway, then cut into the rockface towards the Ridge Street pedestrian bridge (a shared facility above the freeway) proceeding beneath it with a 2.5m clearance (as per the national standard). HarbourLink would then fork, connecting to the:

1. adjacent St Leonards Park.  Here cyclists have reached the lower North Shore plateau, offering generally well-graded terrain for many kilometres

2. the principal Regional Bicycle Route, which would overpass the freeway to its eastern side, then link to the Falcon Street bridge about 400 metres distant, where the construction of a new shared ped/cycle bridge over the freeway and an underpass of Falcon St has just started, then proceed to a future underpass of the Ernest Street bridge just 250 metres to the north.

From Ernest Street, the principal route is just over a kilometre short of the recently completed 7.5km long shared user path (SUP) facility which links Naremburn through Lane Cove to North Ryde - part of the Lane Cove Tunnel Project.  These facilities known as Regional Bicycle Routes (RBR), include a proposed branch along the railway corridor to Chatswood station.  These RBRs form a vital network of bike routes that link into existing local bike routes.

Imminent construction project ... Bus Layover:  Further to the previous paragraph, the RTA is designing a 'Bus Layover' area for NSW Transport and Infrastructure that would to be located between the Miller St underpass and the Miller St (city-bound) on-ramp about 500 metres to the NW of Ernest St.  The layover involves the excavation of a major sandstone rockface.  Currently, a number of buses store on the freeway (city-bound) shoulder in the lead-up to the afternoon peak hours, creating potentially dangerous conditions.   We've raised design aspects with North Sydney Council, the RTA and NSW Transport and Infrastructure, requesting that the SUP be incorporated into this design.  Unfortunately NSW Transport has refused to fund the path, so only the section adjacent to the Bus Layover will be constructed (funded by the RTA) as part of the BL project.  In the future the SUP is expected to underpass the adjacent Miller St (city-bound) on-ramp.