Opponents warn sky rail public space will be vandalised as government releases designs

MELBOURNE’S rising sky rail will become a haven for graffiti vandals and taggers, opponents have warned as the state government released designs for the public spaces under the controversial line.

MELBOURNE’S rising sky rail will become a haven for graffiti vandals and taggers, opponents have warned.

The state government today released designs for what will be built around and under the elevated rail between Caulfield and Dandenong.

SKY RAIL IN BERWICK IS ‘ONLY ALTERNATIVE’

CONCRETE PYLONS DRIVING RESIDENTS AWAY

Designs for the open space at Centre Road West. Picture: Supplied

The plans include car parks, sports courts, rock climbing walls, dog parks and a 17km cycling and walking track.

More than 430 new car spaces will also be built along the line.

But Carnegie resident Michelle Bennett said the towering concrete pillars would become a “graffiti artist’s dream”.

“Everyone is concerned about security and safety,” she said.

“The sky rail has already brought down the tone of the suburb and will do so even more once it’s covered in graffiti.”

“Heatherton Road Community Space” will have a sports area. Picture: Supplied

Designs for Clayton Road. Picture: Supplied

HUNDREDS OF PYLONS SPRING UP FOR SKY RAIL

GREAT WALL OF FENCES BEING BUILT BELOW SKY RAIL

Fellow resident Chelsie Dickson feared that the sky rail would create dangerous and dark viaducts.

“The dark and sometimes enclosed spaces along the corridor are not something I want my children exposed to,” she said.

Opposition leader Matthew Guy also hit out at the plans, saying that the government was promising utopia.

“Be realistic,” he said. “These sky rails are going to be a haven for graffiti.

“They are going to be dirty, they are going to be noisy, they are going to be like every other sky rail in the world.”

Murals and vertical creeping plants are being investigated as a way to cover the pillars to prevent graffiti.

More than 4000 other trees, mostly gums, eucalyptus and other natives, will also be planted.

Previous suggestions on what should be built included ping pong and chess tables and climbing walls.

Designs of trees in Noble Park linear park a year after being planted. Picture: Supplied

Predictions of how the same park will look after 20 years. Picture: Supplied

SKY RAIL RESIDENTS FEEL SHORT-CHANGED BY GOVERNMENT

Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said sky rail would make way for 11 MCGs’ worth of open space between Caulfield and Dandenong.

“We can only have this amount of open space because we are elevating the rail line in this way,” she said.

“A lot of careful thought has gone into how to make the most of these open spaces and draw people in.”

“This will be a very active, open space corridor.

“Where you have people active and engaged, the (crime) impact and perception is reduced over time.”

Tim Entwisle, chair of an expert panel overseeing the designs, said the green climbers were proving difficult to design — but not impossible.

“We are going to have to trial some of that — it’s not that easy to do,” he said.

“But I’m confident we will find a way to do it.”

Work on the open spaces will begin next year.

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@moniquehore