November 21, Day 36: Traiguen to Los Angeles
Today had more roadworks than road. I think there was about 40km of road construction going on, including grading earth, wetting gravel, laying asphalt, rolling it, forming concrete barriers, building pedestrian overbridges. I can't be sure but it looks like a two-lane road is getting upgraded to a 4-lane highway, two lanes each way.
The roadworks had some advantages and disadvantages. One big advantage is that there were quite a few sections of good, flat road which was blocked off to prevent regular traffic using it - but there were no workmen or equipment on it so I discreetly squeezed between the barriers and cruised along for a kilometer or two. Sticking to the side in case of construction traffic, because it's still a work site.
Bikes are also fairly inoffensive, and these construction sites aren't exactly high-security. So even when there were people working, if it looked low-key I'd sail on through. A crane was lifting railings up onto a pedestrian overbridge, it had cones around it but there was plenty of space to get by ... so I did. Even got a wave from the crane driver.
Some sections aren't such a clear benefit. I rode through unattended construction roads which were gravel, rough earth - and one that was just sand. I had to get off and push for most of that one.
The downside is that sometimes there aren't options and I have to rejoin the regular traffic - and their road has been narrowed because of the construction. There was usually enough space on the side for me to ride safely, but not always. The worst case was when they were laying asphalt on the right, so I couldn't go past that way. There was a gravel road with a bit of construction equipment on the left, so I thought that might keep me moving. But it was interrupted by a small stream, which meant a big gap with no bridge or other way across. On the map there were some crossings further up the stream - but in reality they looked like driveways onto farms and were all gated and closed. So I had to return to the road. Fortunately there was a long break in the traffic and I could get past the hundred meters or so with no bike space before I had to share the lane with any vehicles.
From left to right: traditional Dutch pasteleria! Views near the start. Long straight road. Lunch. Big metal globe sculpture, and it even has New Zealand on it.
Another delay was a dead-end. The highway was bending in a direction that didn't match my route, so I thought maybe the route was going to take an older road or something, so I followed it. It led into town, and some serious messages saying the road was closed ahead. I'd already passed through one closed road that was perfectly passable so I thought I'd have a look. Turns out that the bridge over the river is closed, and teeming with workers. There's no other ways across except the new highway. So I had to turn around and go back. That was a kilometer each way.
There were a few other missteps along the way, where I tried to get away from the highway and after a few forced turns and dead-ends ended up back on the highway, only slightly further along.
The best moment was when I got to the road past a high-speed motorway cloverleaf, and found it was closed. There's a picture below, the route comes in from below, turns right, avoids the cloverleaf junction, crosses the river and continues to Los Angeles.
The red arrow shows where the road was closed. How to get over the river? There's no other bridges nearby. I had a drive around the neighbourhood looking at the cloverleaf junction from a few different places. It is indeed a free-flowing high-speed junction with no place for bikes; getting into the mix meant at least a kilometer of fast traffic with no shoulder. No thanks.
From left to right: closed road to bypass the cloverleaf junction. One of the good, free sections during road construction. Railway crossing. Sand.
So I went back to the closed road and tried to follow it as far as possible. It was closed off with concrete barriers, which I could squeeze past. After that, there was ... nothing difficult. It was a gravel road, that avoided the cloverleaf, and rejoined the highway by a bridge. With a sidewalk for pedestrians! And bikes pretending to be pedestrians like me. I'd like to say I don't know why the road was closed - but on the other side of the bridge was another construction site, and it had squeezed the main road down so there was no shoulder for bikes.
I got there in the end, mostly safely, but there was a bit too much puzzle-solving and backtracking today. The route was estimated to be 7 hours. I was not taking it slow, and didn't stop for long, and it was still nearly 9 hours on the road. Hopefully there's none of these delays tomorrow, for the trip to Concepcion.
