Sydney's CBD set for construction chaos, people told to ride bicycles

Sydney's CBD will be largely shut to traffic for more than two years from next Monday for the construction of a light rail system.

Hundreds of daily bus services will no longer enter the city.

Instead commuters are being urged to use the city's new cycleways, two of which opened on Monday.

But commuters from suburbs not near the CBD and without bicycles will be expected to walk to their workplaces from the edge of the city, or make complex bus/train connections -- extending travel times.

Two separate cycle lanes, built by the New South Wales government, opened on Monday, ahead of the light rail construction that begins on Sunday.

The lanes provide cyclists with a link from Central Station to the Sydney Harbor Bridge.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore -- who is behind the light rail scheme and has long been seen as an anti-car campaigner -- said the cycle lanes would help ease pressure on public transport and create more space on the roads for drivers who do negotiate the road closures.

CBD businesses are alarmed as not only will there be pedestrian affects, but also access for their suppliers.

The light rail track is being built down the city's main George St. which is more than 5 kilometers long.

Cross street traffic will also be majorly affected. Endi