Maribyrnong City Council has voted down plans for a key bike corridor along Melon Street in Braybrook.
The proposal, under development for more than a year, would have provided a connection between several important bike routes in Melbourne's west.
Councillors instead voted to move the route to adjacent Ashley Street, a busy state government-managed arterial road linking Ballarat and Sunshine roads.
The council had previously investigated Ashley Street, including commissioning concept designs, before making Melon Street its preferred option.
The Melon Street proposal was backed by $2.7 million under the Department of Transport and Planning's Sunshine Transport Precinct Activation fund for three active transport projects, which form a corridor along Melon Street, through Lacy Street/Cranwell Reserve and to complete the missing link on the Maribyrnong River Trail adjacent to the Medway Golf Club.
The Melon Street link would have connected up the existing and proposed east-west bike corridors through the area, including the Footscray-Sunshine Trail, South Street, Cranwell Street, the Maribyrnong River Trail and the proposed strategic cycling corridor along Devonshire Road-Churchill Avenue.
This would get riders to destinations including Tottenham Station, the proposed Melbourne Airport Rail Link at Sunshine, the sporting facilities at Skinner Reserve and Highpoint Shopping Centre.