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St Georges Road Shared path opened
St Georges Road pipes down

Now that pipes are in the ground along St Georges Road, work has ramped up on finishing the new pathway and reinstating the landscaping along the boulevard.

Fresh, tasty water is now flowing down the new 1700mm pipe into the thirsty Melbourne CBD, but riders have a little longer to wait for their journey along the top of the pipe to be likewise refreshed.

Some of the tree planting however, will have to wait until Autumn next year when cooler conditions return.

Once the path construction is completed, Melbourne Water will reinstate the loathed road crossings which were originally proposed to be removed.

As we have previously reported, Melbourne Water had committed to removing the dangerous crossings, but Darebin councilors got cold feet and asked for a delay.

Melbourne Water now has to replace the crossings to the same configuration as they were prior to the M40 pipe project.

The dreadful result will be obvious to every rider on the path – it is such an obvious failing compared to the rest of the project adn increases risk to riders and tram travellers.

The mess will now be left to VicRoads to clean up.

VicRoads has undertaken an investigation of traffic movements along and across St Georges Road, so it is likely to have a clear idea of how to remove or improve the crossings, should Darebin Council relent.

In the meantime, Melbourne Water will continue with its works, transferring pedestrians and riders onto the new shared path as sections are completed.

Then it will dig up the temporary asphalt path and start to reinstate the east side of the centre-median.

There will be some localised detours for pedestrian and cyclists as the work continues.

Updates from Melbourne Water on the project are available here.

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