Good afternoon,

Welcome to the update on all things Metro Tunnel construction.

Overnight Works:

No overnight works planned.

Works next week

Albert Road Reserve forecourt and Station Entrance

The DDA drop-off parking bay for the station is almost completely paved as I type, while up on the concourse level, you might have noticed a honeycomb of holes in the pavers – these are the installation points for the array of future bike hoops that will soon be installed adjacent to the station entrance.

Next week we’ll see more of the paving and landscaping works through this area.

Shrine Entrance and Domain Road

Next week is concrete and asphalt week out on Domain Road. The concrete is being poured for the new dual tram/bus stops on Domain Road. The outbound raised stop was poured this week, while the inbound stop to be poured next week. Following on closely behind is the final layers of asphalt for Domain Road and both the new stops.

Edmund Herring Oval (EHO) Reinstatement

Up at Edmund Herring Oval, it’s another week of strategically re-arranging dirt. (The lead engineer was away today – so I’ll have a slightly more technical update next week)

Rectification Works

I provided an update a few weeks back on the process for completing and opening sections of the job that are complete. It is a in-depth exercise, with each area and design element requiring walk-throughs and inspections with the future asset owners (e.g. councils and Department of Transport). As part of this process there are often minor rectification works that are identified, which the team progressively tick off and closes out with the future owner and the independent project auditor.

Next week as part of rectification works, we’ll be doing some repairs on the bluestone pavers at the top of Albert Road near St Kilda Road where local skating enthusiasts have caused quite a bit of damage to the bluestone.  The repair works will include spray cleaning the bluestone and installation of some skate deterrents on the bluestone to prevent further damage. There will be some very minor pedestrian detours while these works take place.

In future, if you’re looking to practice your back-side grinds – you’ll need to jump on the tram and head to RiverSlide skate park adjacent to the Yarra River for all your gnarly grinding needs.

The next rectification works of note are likely to be in mid-September in the garden bed opposite The Botanica (400 St Kilda Road) where we’ll be back in to adjust some of the gradients in the garden bed. We’ll take the opportunity to also do some weeding through this area.

Friday Flashback

This weeks Friday Flashback takes us back to February 2019, when the crews had to carefully transport the diaphragm wall (D-wall) excavating machinery from one side of St Kilda Road to the other. This took place in the middle of the night when trams weren’t running and the road was closed.

The team had to carefully navigated underneath the tram wires that you can see in the shot (As you can imagine – they had the power isolated for the duration)

Thanks, Rob