Merri-bek BUG

In 2006, Moreland BUG and Yarra BUG lobbied Moreland Council to realign the Capital City rail trail at the corner of Park St and Nicholson St, as that dog-leg on the bike path has proven to be a dangerous bottleneck and the expiration of the lease of the VideoEzy business on the site provided an ideal opportunity for path realignment to occur.

At the Moreland BUG meeting last week, Nicholas Elliot from council showed draft plans for the path to be realigned through what is currently the carpark at the front of the VideoEzy store and raised the possibility of a bike-friendly cafe/bikeshop.

Some concerns and suggestions were raised:

• The new path alignment should not create a 'blind' corner
• Council needs to ensure the new section of path is wide, at least 3 metres (even 4) due to large number of cyclists using it and concentration at the road crossing, and there should be a large open area out front near the crossing for people to queue.
• A large number of parking rails could be provided for people who want to park their bike and tram into town (park and ride). This could work very well if the business is set up to service bikes whilst owner is at work.
• The BUG strongly supports a toilet on-site and suggests that it be on the same side as the playground and cafe to avoid kids having to cross the path
• That the path be fenced off from outdoor seating and playground to give parents more security that kids aren't going to wander into path of cyclists
• And strong agreement that water be available and easily accessible at the site

A report will be tabled at the next Moreland Council meeting in mid-April, so watch out for more news on developments at the site.