Cade Lucas
A long awaited extension to the Bay Trail walking and cycling track in Point Cook will finally open on Thursday after pressure from frustrated local residents.
A joint project of Parks Victoria and construction company Aveo, the Saltwater Coast Bridge over the Cheetham Wetlands connects Sanctuary Lakes to the Saltwater Coast and means the Bay Trail runs uninterrupted from Point Cook to Williamstown.
The extension was completed in October and due to open by late December, but a dispute over the maintenance and management of the bridge between Aveo, Parks Victoria and Wyndham Council, resulted in it remaining closed into the new year, with Aveo blocking access to the southern half it constructed.
However late on Monday January 15 Aveo bowed to community pressure and announced it would allow access to the bridge despite the dispute not being resolved.
“Aveo acknowledges the community requests to use the bridge and are pleased to confirm that the Saltwater Coast Bridge will be made open for public use this week, effective Thursday 18 January 2024,” said a spokesperson for the company.
“Aveo remains in discussion with Parks Victoria and Wyndham City Council regarding management of the Saltwater Coast Bridge and surrounding reserve.”
A spokesperson for Parks Victoria confirmed the northern section of the bridge it was responsible for had been completed and open since November last year.
Wyndham council said the bridge was a development between Parks Victoria and Aveo and declined to comment further.
News of the impending opening was welcomed by Sanctuary Lakes resident Kathy Sheat.
“It’s wonderful news. I’ve had over 30 responses on Facebook saying ’yay’,” said Ms Sheat who was among locals demanding that barriers blocking access to the bridge be removed.
“We’ve been waiting expectantly and expected it to be open before Christmas and it was such a big disappointment that it wasn’t. We’re all thrilled that it’s now about to open.”
Ms Sheat said it was disappointing that that delay was only due to disagreements over maintenance rather than something more serious and criticised the lack of information provided to residents.
But after waiting so long, she was looking forward to finally going bike riding with her granddaughters who live on the Saltwater side.
“It was inconvenient for my son to bring all their bikes over here. Now they can ride over to me or me over to them and off we go.”
