Dodds Street park opening pushed back to March

The conversion of roadway into public open space on Dodds Street is set to be completed in March, three months later than scheduled.

The City of Melbourne had previously flagged a pre-Christmas opening for the Dodds Street linear park, however it won’t now meet this goal.

Recent works on the project, which will feature gathering spaces among new native grasslands and trees on Dodds St between Grant St and Southbank Boulevard, saw a section of bluestone paving completed at the northern end, which has now reopened to vehicles and is operating as a shared zone.

“We expect hard landscape works to be finished by March 2024,” a recent project update stated, adding that the site will close from December 20 until January 8.

“Planting will be carried out in autumn as the weather cools, giving our plants and seeds the best chance of growing into a healthy, thriving landscape.”

Speaking at the November 21 Future Melbourne Committee meeting held at The Opera Centre in Southbank, the council’s director of parks and city greening David Callow said, “[It is] a significant new open space in an area that was previously a roadway … it was bitumen and an urban heat island,” he said.

“We’ll see significant increases in tree canopy cover, biodiversity and that will be achieved through 35 new trees and 1300 square metres of new garden beds.”

The project forms part of the Southbank Boulevard and Dodds Street Draft concept plan, which was endorsed by the council in 2017.

Its delayed completion comes after the $44 million transformation of Southbank Boulevard was beset by hold-ups.

The council has said the linear park would “breathe new life” into what was an “under-explored part of the city” and would increase the number of visitors. •

Caption: New bluestone pavers on Dodds Street linear park (Picture: City of Melbourne).