The project aligns with these key strategic documents:

• West Melbourne Structure Plan
• Urban Forest Strategy
• Transport Strategy 2030

Following community feedback and Council endorsement, the design will progress into the next phase. Current timelines indicate construction may commence in 2023, pending approvals and budget.

City of Melbourne has undertaken a number of studies and investigations in relation to the Hawke Street Linear Park project including a Traffic and Parking Survey and Analysis, Feature and Level Survey including review and mapping of Dial Before You Dig information. Further studies and investigations will be undertaken as the project progresses.

The West Melbourne Structure Plan originally showed the linear park on the southern alignment of Hawke Street. This was reviewed and was found to clash with many vehicle crossovers, above and below ground services. The linear park and the shared user path alignment has switched over to the north side of Hawke Street where there are less vehicle crossovers and reduced services conflicts. This will also connect the two parklands along the street broadening and connecting open spaces.

Please note: the revised concept plan has removed the shared user path and replaced it with dedicated pedestrian path upgrades and on-road protected bike lanes in each direction.

In order to better understand the parking needs of local residents and businesses, we will undertake a detailed parking study of the West Melbourne local area in late February 2022. The study will include parking surveys to determine who and how long people park for, the level of compliance with current restrictions and an analysis of how the resident parking scheme is operating. As part of this work, we will also seek feedback from local residents and traders about their parking needs, issues and concerns including any ideas on how we can better allocate parking.

Following an analysis of the parking study and community feedback, we will prepare a parking proposal for the area and seek community feedback in March/April 2022.

Projects like Hawke Street upgrades will implement these changes.