NEGOTIATING steep Wooralla Drive in Mt Eliza by foot is to be avoided by all but the most experienced walkers but that’s about to change with the shire getting ready for the construction of a footpath between the Tower Rd roundabout and Emil Madsen Reserve.
Tender documents are being prepared and the shire is likely to call for prices from construction companies in about four weeks.
It is hoped work will start in August or September.
The long-awaited path will wind down the steep hill and have a bridge over Balcombe Creek. It will also cross the railway line, which is used by Mornington Railway Preservation Society about three Sundays every month for a tourist train between Moorooduc and Mornington.
It is hoped there will eventually be a shared path beside the rail line from Moorooduc to Mornington. The footpath has spent a long time on the wish list and has been needed even more since the popular skate park opened in early 2012.
Mt Eliza area councillor Andrew Dixon said Emil Madsen Reserve was the biggest in the shire when he was debating unmade car parks at a council meeting late last month.
He said Mt Eliza had the largest junior football club and that the reserve’s three ovals were used during the week and on weekends.
The new path will possibly encourage more walkers and joggers to use a popular route of about 10 kilometres that takes in Wooralla Drive to Tower Rd, down the hill to Emil Madsen Reserve, along the rail line to Mt Eliza Regional Park, up through the quarry reserve to Canadian Bay Rd and down to Mt Eliza Village. Phew.
First published in the Mornington News – 9 June 2015
