Plan for treetop walkway with river views at Domain Parklands

A TREETOP walk with views to the Yarra and closing traffic lanes are among the latest proposals to improve Melbourne’s much-loved Domain Parklands.

THE creation of a treetop walk through the Domain Parklands with views to the Yarra has been proposed as part of an overhaul of the much-loved city park.

The elevated walkway would run for about 600m from near the Sidney Myer Music Bowl along the escarpment south to the edge of the Botanic Gardens.

“(The treetop walk) would give excellent views over the river as well as creating an accessible path through challenging topography,’’ a city council report said.

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The Domain Parklands could get a new walkway. Picture: Nicole Garmston

Domain Parklands master plan by the Melbourne City Council. The red zones indicate proposed road closures and the green line is a proposed tree-top walk.

The idea is included in the Domain Parklands master plan released by Town Hall.

The report also proposes closing two busy traffic lanes. A slip lane which provides access from Alexandra Ave into Linlithgow Ave would become parkland, resulting in an unloved heritage-listed rockery no longer being surrounded by traffic.

The plan also suggests shutting to traffic the Linlithgow Avenue South slip lane into the St Kilda Rd intersection. Councillors will consider the master plan on Tuesday.

Walk and cycle ways across the 123 hectares of parkland south of the CBD would also be upgraded.

The rockery garden that was built in 1901 would no longer be on a traffic island between Alexandra Avenue and Linlithgow Ave under the latest proposals. Picture: Ian Currie

Parking on the eastern edge of Alexandra Ave would be removed to make way for a bicycle lane.

The plan also allows for the creation of an entrance from the yet-to-built Anzac station and a new visitor centre.

The council also proposes working with Victorian Arts Centre Trust, which manages the music bowl, to replace existing toilets with new ones “in a more suitable location”.

New lighting at Edmund Herring Memorial Oval on Domain Rd is also proposed.

If approved, costs and timings of any implementation will then be prepared.

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