The incessant flooding of the Federation Trail at Laverton North may be a thing of the past. Fingers crossed.
Department of Transport contractors dived in recently with some heavy machinery and moved some dirt and water around so that engineers could get a closer look at potential causes of the problem.
Then a miracle happened: some time later the water began to recede and then disappeared.
All that remained was a terrible stench, a mountain of rubbish, and a troubling question: “Did we really fix it?"
There has been no significant precipitation since, so we can't be sure. Maybe the rain forecast for this weekend will be the test.
No doubt the DoT is praying for rain.
Some great work has been done by DoT to clean up the trail through the previously flooded stretch.
The pathway has been washed and swept, so your bike should be free of the stinking mud.
At the same time years of accumulated rubbish, periodically deposited by rubbish dumping creeps, was removed. (Didn’t they know that the Brooklyn tip was only a few hundred metres up the road?)
In fact the cleanup has been so effective that ducklings and waterbirds were back in the neighbouring ponds within hours.
The intermittent flooding of the trail at this location began in October 2018, but this spring has been particularly bad.
The flooding was a major problem as there was not really a safe alternative for riders as nearby roads are busy truck routes.
In recent months investigations have been underway to trace the source of the problem, but until now have been fruitless.
With riders now able to ride greater distances due to the easing of COVID restrictions, the Federation Trail is once again a good option.
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