The fact that Thiess John Holland originally slated the Trail closure for only three weeks:

as of Friday 15 June, theKoomba Park carpark on Boronia Road (melways Map 63 D4/5) and the main trail between Boronia Road and Mountain Highway will be closed for three weeks

gave me hope that I wouldn’t have to push my treadly along the detour (which runs along the very busy Wantirna Rd and Mountain Hwy) for too long!

However, as reported in the Knox Leader by Will Jackson on 24 July

Cold snap hinders work on new bicycle paths

Cyclists are getting anxious about when the new bicycle paths will be completed.
Wet weather has delayed the construction of new cycle trails in Wantirna’s Koomba Park.

Now I guess I can put up with this – after all the good June and July rains have been great for drought-stricken Melbourne, and to their credit Thiess John Holland have been providing regular email updates on the construction works and anticipated opening date.

But the promised opening date continues to be pushed back and the nice new concrete shared path remains fenced off…

while cyclist and pedestrains continue to negotiate the detour along major roads.

This short section along the verge of Mountain Hwy near the entrance to the Koomba Park carpark is particularly hair-raising in peak hour traffic!!

According to Thiess John Holland:

Parks Victoria still won’t let us open the trail due to a grey area concerning liability.

While Parks Victoria says:

The Koomba Park area is still an active work site, Safety and security for the site is the responsibility of TJH. As the site is the responsibility of TJH the decision to open sections of the path lies with TJH. Parks Victoria will not be responsible for the site until all works are complete.

Meanwhile the regular users of the Dandenong Creek trail in Koomba Park continue to wait, with the lastest from Thiess John Holland:

We understand your frustration at having to use the detour route. At this point in time it is possible that the path will remain closed until some time around mid-August.

Too right, I’m frustrated – Grrrrrrrr!!!

trial is being upgraded to form part of the shared path associated with

the Mitcham to Frankston tollway (as I mentioned last year).

A short section of the bitumen path east of Boronia road was resurfaced

a couple of months ago and this is very nice (thank you very much!) Now

the major works on the Dandenong Creek trail has commenced this week.

The construction works involve replacing the existing gravel path

between Boronia Road and the Koomba Park Boardwalk with a concrete path.

This will greatly improve this section of the trail and I am really

looking forward to riding the upgrade.

However, it will bring some inconvenience to cyclists and pedestrains

during construction.

According to a Southern and Eastern Integrated

Transport Authority (SEITA) Communications Officer:

To construct the shared use path as part of the EastLink project, Thiess

John Holland (the construction contractors of EastLink) will be required to

divert some of the paths around the construction site. These paths will not

be closed and cyclists and pedestrians will still be able to use them.

However, you will need to observe the necessary shared use path diversion

signs and follow the designated routes, which will be highlighted via

signage, around the construction sites.

So at least Thiess John Holland are providing detours, but as you can

see from these images, the detours are of such poor quality that the

expectation is cyclists should dismount and walk the current 2.5km

(approx) detour—yeah right!

Thiess John Holland have patched up the

worst parts of the detour so it is rideable but it is already starting

to get chopped up and if we get a bit of rain it will quickly turn into

a quagmire at the Eastern end—which is just an old grass/dirt 4WD track.

More concerning is the detours will only be available for part of the

construction phase of the new shared path, and for a period of three

week the trail will be completely closed!!

Now this is going to be a

major inconvenience since my fellow commuters and I regularly ride to work on this route.

Although signage advising alternate routes is promised, there are few

options for these routes and most will involve cycling on major roads

(Boronia Road and Mountain Hwy) or traversing the many (steep) hills and

dales of Vermont (eg. via Morack Rd).

While I’m look forward to the end result, the coming weeks will be trying

and difficult riding. Hopefully the weather will hold and the shared

path upgrade will run ahead of schedule.

And then the drought can break :-)