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Crossing Borders Tracks and Trails – Daylesford to Macedon Ranges

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Crossing Borders Tracks and Trails – Daylesford to Macedon Ranges Crossing Borders Tracks and Trails: Volume 2 Daylesford to Macedon Ranges Rail Trail Final Report July 2013 Crossing Borders Tracks and Trails: Volume 2 Daylesford to Macedon Ranges Rail Trail Table of Contents 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Report Format ............................................................................................................... 3 2. Background ........................................................................................................................... 4 3. Vision and Aspirations ........................................................................................................... 8 4. Target Markets ...................................................................................................................... 9 5. Shire and Regional Tourism Priorities ................................................................................. 10 6. Significance to the Local / Regional Tourism Industry ........................................................ 10 7. Current Cycle Touring Activity ............................................................................................ 11 8. Competitive Strengths ........................................................................................................ 12 9. Estimated Tourism Demand and Economic Impact ............................................................ 13 10. Other Benefits ................................................................................................................. 15 11. Land Tenure Studies ........................................................................................................ 16 12. Possible Trail Network Layout ......................................................................................... 18 13. Staged Implementation .................................................................................................. 36 14. Use of the Operational Rail Corridor .............................................................................. 38 15. Infrastructure Requirements .......................................................................................... 41 16. Proposed Management Model ....................................................................................... 46 17. Design Guidelines ............................................................................................................ 48 18. Estimated Development Costs ........................................................................................ 55 19. Maintenance ................................................................................................................... 58 20. Trail Promotion and Marketing ....................................................................................... 59 21. Potential Barriers ............................................................................................................ 62 22. Action Plan ...................................................................................................................... 63 23. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 66 24. Appendix 1: Clarkefield to Malmsbury ........................................................................... 67 © Insight Leisure Planning 2013 | Final Report Page 2 Crossing Borders Tracks and Trails: Volume 2 Daylesford to Macedon Ranges Rail Trail 1. Introduction The Crossing Borders Tracks and Trails project is a joint initiative of Hepburn Shire Council, Ballarat City Council, Macedon Ranges Shire Council, Central Goldfields Shire Council, Department of Planning and Community Development and Department of Transport. Tracks and trails are recognized as important community assets that offer a broad range of physical activity participation opportunities, with a strong focus on recreational walking, bushwalking, running, cycling and mountain bike riding. The Crossing Borders Tracks and Trails project provides an integrated and coordinate approach to major trail master planning and maximise opportunities for social, recreational and tourism benefits from each of the selected projects. There are four individual projects that are considered in the Crossing Borders Tracks and Trails project, these are: The Ballarat - Maryborough Heritage Trail which aims to provide an on-road cycling connection utilising back-country roads between Maryborough to Ballarat (via Creswick and other small towns); The Daylesford to Macedon Ranges Rail Trail (DMRT), linking Daylesford to Woodend utilising a combination of rail corridor and (where required) alternative routes; The Black Hill Mountain Bike (MTB) Park (e.g. municipal MTB Park); and Creswick Trails initiative which includes a combination of mountain bike trails, shared trails and walking paths throughout the Creswick forest. The aim of the project is to establish a strategic action plan for each of the four identified projects in order to guide further implementation of each, including identification of key priorities, indicative costs, benefits and ongoing management options. This report relates to the Daylesford to Macedon Ranges Rail Trail (DMRT) initiative. 1.1 Report Format The project reports have been presented in the following volumes: Volume 1: Summary Report o Description: Overall synopsis of key findings and summary action plan for each of the four selected projects. Volume 2: Selected Project Reports (x4). o Description: Stand alone overview of key findings and directions for each individual project. Volume 3: Background Reference Material o Description: Selected support material and reference documents, including design guidelines. © Insight Leisure Planning 2013 | Final Report Page 3 Crossing Borders Tracks and Trails: Volume 2 Daylesford to Macedon Ranges Rail Trail 2. Background The Daylesford Macedon Ranges Rail Trail is a proposed rail trail connecting Daylesford and Woodend, via the towns of Musk, Lyonville and Trentham. Like all rail trails, it proposes to re- use an old, decommissioned railway alignment to create a shared-use pathway for pedestrians and cyclists. The proposed rail trail will cross over two municipalities, Hepburn Shire and Macedon Ranges Shire. The overall length of the proposed rail trail is approximately 43.1km. Around 26.5km (or 61.5% of the entire distance) is within the Hepburn Shire and 16.6km (or 38.5% of the entire distance) is within the Macedon Ranges Shire. The proposed rail trail has been variously referred to as the Daylesford to Woodend Rail Trail, the Central Highlands Rail Trail and the Daylesford Macedon Ranges Rail Trail in previous reporting. The title Daylesford Macedon Ranges Rail Trail (DMRT) is the name used in this report. For Macedon Ranges Shire (MRS), the concept of the rail trail is broader than a connection from Daylesford to Woodend. Whilst this is the primary component under investigation as part of this project, MRS harbour bigger aspirations for use of the active rail corridor for shared-use pathway construction to provide off-road connections between major settlements within the Shire, i.e. between Clarkefield to Malmsbury, incorporating the section between Woodend-Carlsruhe Station which may form part of the DMRT. (Please refer to Appendix 1). The following information is from the ‘Rail Trail Establishment Guidelines’ published by Rail Trails Australia. It defines a rail trail as: ‘…a trail that closely follows (preferably on) the formation of a former railway line or runs beside an active railway for the majority of its length. What sets rail trails apart from other trails are that they are gently graded and have a history. All should at least be suitable for walking and depending on the surface, can also be used by mountain bikes, hybrid bikes, prams and wheel chairs, and even four wheel “gophers”.' As noted in the definition above, it is the gentle gradient of these former railways that make rail trails a popular option for recreational and commuter use. In most cases in Australia, when a railway has been decommissioned the steel rails or tracks are removed, as these are reasonably valuable. In some cases the sleepers, which historically were made of wood (but are often now made of concrete), are also removed. In other cases, where the sleepers have been left in place, they were often stolen or have simply rotted away. With the tracks and the sleepers removed, the underlying trackbed remains. The trackbed was generally surfaced with ballast, a type of quarried aggregate stone or gravel, laid over the underlying earth and levelled and compacted to ensure stability and proper drainage. On © Insight Leisure Planning 2013 | Final Report Page 4 Crossing Borders Tracks and Trails: Volume 2 Daylesford to Macedon Ranges Rail Trail some decommissioned railway lines, the ballast still remains in place, while on others it has been physically removed for other purposes or it has been covered over with earth, organic matter or vegetation. It is the trackbed itself that is of most use and value for the purposes of a rail trail. In effect, all that needs to be done to build a rail trail on a former railway is to remove any vegetation, remove any infrastructure that remains (including tracks and sleepers if they remain), scrape back any organic matter or soil that has covered the trackbed and re-surface it with an appropriate material
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