The work to renaturalise a section of the Moonee Ponds Creek has reached the halfway mark and work on new shared paths is now underway.
Construction of the new Brosnan Crescent concrete shared path (Moonee Valley Council side) is forging ahead with the section around Strathmore North Primary School completed with the remainder due to open this month.
A new gravel path will replace the existing asphalt path on top of the southern bank of the creek (Moonee Valley Council side), with works underway in September-October 2023.
The planting of more than 43,000 native trees and shrubs is steadily progressing, with almost half the riparian plants now in the ground.
So far Melbourne Water contractors have completed about 80 per cent of the rockwork along both creek banks. The remaining sections will be completed once all the new shared paths are constructed.
In-stream channel rockwork on the bottom of the creek is now in progress -- a slow and meticulous process to place the rocks in such a way to make it look as 'natural' as possible — due for completion in October-November.
In a milestone for the project, the concrete weir – referred to by locals as 'The Great Divide', where the concreted section of creek meets the natural part – has been removed, soon to be replaced with rocks to integrate with existing rockwork in the natural part of the creek.
Some shared paths will be closed during the works with pedestrians and bike riders temporarily detoured along Mascoma and Odin Streets.
The project will be completed in 2024.