Prospects for a new Anniversary Trail crossing of Toorak Road have firmed as the Victorian Government takes the planning process public.
Funding for the development of designs for a new bridge was announced last year and preliminary investigations have been underway.
Now the Department of Transport has released some rough concepts for a new crossing for public consultation.
The need for a new Toorak Road crossing for the Anniversary Trail (also called the Outer Circle Trail) has been known by riders and transport authorities for decades.
The existing crossing is misaligned and places riders in conflict with other road users and people on the footpath.
The City of Boroondara undertook a feasibility study for a bridge in 2014 and then released concept designs in 2018.
These studies looked at some of the same options that have now been proposed by the DoT, that do not involve a bridge, and discarded them.
Consensus has formed around a bike and pedestrian bridge on the west side of the rail bridge as being the best option.
The Victorian Liberals have already pledged $8 million to build the Bridge as designed by the City of Boroondara. See our story of the announcement by candidate for Ashwood, Asher Judah.
The DoT says the Anniversary Trail is part of the Kew to Highett Strategic Cycling Corridor and provides an off-road Shared Use Path (SUP) of around 15km for bike riders and pedestrians alike.
"The trail links users to both the Yarra River and Gardiner’s Creek Trail, as well as providing access to stations on the Alamein Line," DoT says.
"We want to hear your opinion on our early designs for the missing link on the Anniversary Trail at Toorak Road. We’re exploring four potential solutions - each option is in the early stages and there are still more site investigations underway.
"We want to develop a design solution that:
• Improves connectivity and safety for users of the Anniversary trail
• Benefits the local community and improves amenity on this section of Toorak Road
• Minimises impacts to the local area as much as possible.
"Your feedback will help inform the next stage of design and influence the next steps for the project.
We’ll share the results of this early consultation later on this year, with a final design shared by the end of 2022.”
The final design will be announced in early 2023 with project construction from mid 2024 - mid 2025.
There are four options proposed in the survey. Consultation is open until 28 October.
Make sure you take the survey and provide your feedback here.
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