Dredging of sediment under the pontoons on the Main Yarra Trail through Cremorne has begun, resulting in closure and detours of the trail between Cremorne Rail Bridge and the Punt Road Bridge.
The trail is detoured to the other side of the river on weekdays between 7:30am and 5:30pm. The route will remain open on weekends.
The closure is expected to last a month.
The Yarra through the lower reaches silts up periodically, and the pontoons through Cremorne and Burnley are now bottoming out at low tide.
It is the third occasion dredging has been required to put the pontoons on the level—it’s been done previously in 2009 and 2014.
Near Punt Road, in Cremorne, the pontoons are now tilting, creating risks for riders, and stressing the pontoon structures and supports.
In total, over 1000 cubic metres of material will be removed from under the trail.
Detours are never welcome, but they are inevitable, and they will help get the works done quickly and the trail reopened as soon as possible.
Parks Victoria Recommended Detour
City bound
- Cross the river at MacRobertson Bridge and follow the Capital City Trail on the southern bank of the Yarra for approximately 4.4km.
- Reconnect back onto the Main Yarra Trail at Anderson Street using the Morell Bridge to cross the river.
- Riders are advised to dismount and walk their bikes across the MacRobertson Bridge (Grange Road) as indicated by signage.
Out-bound
- Cross the river at Anderson Street via Morell Bridge and follow the Capital City Trail on the southern bank for approximately 4.4km.
- Reconnect back onto the Main Yarra Trail via MacRobertson Bridge.
- Riders are advised to dismount and walk their bikes across the MacRobertson Bridge (Grange Road) as indicated by signage.
- Please note that the cycling route is based on the avoidance of stairs, if a rider is willing carry their bike up or down stairs they can use the steps at Cremorne Rail Bridge or Church St.
The MacRobertson Bridge crossing is always problematic. Experienced riders who have encountered closures on the pontoons previously may be aware of alternative on-road routes through the backstreets of Cremorne and Burnley.
There are three floating sections of the Main Yarra Trail.
Section 1: Between Punt Rd Bridge and Cremorne Rail Bridge.
Section 2: Between Church St Bridge and the Burnley Bouldering Wall.
Section 3: Outside of Burnley Harbour, just upstream of the Burnley Bouldering wall.
In the first stage, river sediment will be removed from underneath Section 1 where the problem is the most urgent.
Dredging may also occur at Section 2 and Section 3 after the completion of the works at Section 1, although this is uncertain.
Potential dredging at Section 2 and Section 3 would start immediately after completion of section 1, and would be expected to be completed by the end of August 2020.
This would result in further closures of floating sections 2 and 3 (upstream of Church St Bridge and outside of Burnley Harbour) which might occur between 15 July and 31 August 2020.