On Tuesday, nearly a week after my initial enquiry about the state of the Yarra Trail ramps, I finally received some feedback from Parks Victoria's Ranger-in-Charge (Waterways). His email had one of those boilerplate disclaimers on it (you know "for your eyes only" sort of thing) so I emailed straight back asking for permission to share but no reply - so I guess I'll just have to paraphrase.
Ramp resurfacing
Parks Vic is looking into an alternative non-slip surface and weighing up the costs, durability, and time required to install. There's no date for when a decision or indeed an installation will be made beyond the rather vague "shortly".
I must say, this sounds remarkably familiar to the response I got a few years ago when I made a report after my injury on the Church St. bridge ramp. Regardless, Parks Vic should have detected the disintegration of the surface layer and replaced it long before it got to its current lamentable state.
But at least some action appears likely to occur soon.
Ramp gap
On the ramp gap (ramp to the west of Church St.) the Ranger-in-Charge explained basically what I'd already assumed here: a build up of silt under the floating pathway causes the pontoon to list at low tide, opening up a large gap at the bottom of the ramp.
Dredging will be required but Parks Victoria can't order such work for various environmental and cost reasons. A dredging strategy is being drafted with community consultation and bidding for Government funds part of it.
Which means this problem won't be going away in a hurry.
Suggestions
As interim measures I suggested that Parks Victoria should deploy a work crew to remove proud screw heads and loose debris from the two ramps where the surface is disintegrating, and improve the signage at the ramp gap.
The latter recommendation seems to be more important, especially as this fault is going to take a long time to fix. The problem is that the gap at the bottom of this ramp is obscured from both directions: when approaching along the floating ramp it is largely hidden by a slight bend in the path, and when descending the ramp the gap is hidden by the ramp itself. Furthermore the warning sign is only posted right at the point where the gap is, which is far too late for cyclists approaching the ramp at a speed suitable to make an easy ascent.
My suggestion here is to put more signs - big, clear, unambiguous signs - out on both the approaches to this ramp. By no means should this be considered a solution - even in the interim - but it may help to reduce the incidence of injuries at this point.
I would have been happier to hear that steps were being taken to improve the integrity of this ramp in the short term while we await the dredging solution.
There's been no further response from the Ranger and, as far as I can tell, neither of my ideas has been acted on yet.