A car has been caught on camera using a pedestrian rail underpass as a short cut into Wollongong.
The underpass links Gladstone Avenue, across from McKinnon Park, with Swan Street.
Cyclist Danny Hennessy uses the tunnel regularly when travelling between home and work.
Earlier this month on the way from work, he was heading towards the tunnel from the Gladstone Avenue side only to find a car coming the opposite way - in the dark with no headlights.
The driver made it around the sharp dog's leg out of the tunnel, then turned on their lights and raced off to join Gladstone Avenue.
With the tightness of the dog's leg and the small space in the tunnel itself, it may have seemed hard to believe - but Mr Hennessy took a few photos as proof.
And he said it wasn't the first time it had happened either.
"That driver or another one was doing it in the afternoons last year in August and September - I just wasn't able to get a pic then," Mr Hennessy said.
With the initial instances occurring just ahead of the UCI World Championship event last year Mr Hennessy reported the issue to Wollongong City Council in the hope something would be done.
"I thought a cycling commuter or pedestrian being killed or injured in a cycling tunnel by a car in the host city of the [world championships] would have been international headlines," he said.
However, Mr Hennessy claimed nothing was done at the time.
"The whole tunnel access point needs massive improvements - but this needs to be considered," he said.
"I'm not a fan of dangerous steel bollards on cycleways, but something needs to be done."
A Wollongong City Council spokeswoman confirmed it was responsible for managing this pedestrian underpass.
"Vehicles are not permitted on cycleways, footpaths, or shared pathways at any time," the spokeswoman said.
"We encourage residents to report incidents of drivers doing the wrong thing directly to Wollongong Police."
The spokeswoman could no confirm whether measures would definitely be put in place to stop cars using the tunnel.
"We will determine if it is appropriate to install in-path barriers or other deterrents to prevent cars from accessing this area," the spokeswoman said.
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Glen Humphries
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
I'm an award-winning senior journalist with the Illawarra Mercury and have well over two decades' worth of experience in newspapers. I cover the three local councils in the Illawarra for the Mercury, state and federal politics, as well as writing for the TV guide. If I'm not writing, I'm reading.
