Items filtered by date: October 2019

East Gippsland Rail Trail committee of management has secured funding from the Federal Government, through Member for Gippsland, Darren Chester, to reseal the section of trail from McEacharn Street, East Bairnsdale, to the Nicholson River Bridge.

Preliminary works for this long awaited upgrade commenced last week and will continue this week, with the reseal to take place after the Melbourne Cup long weekend.

The trail will remain open during the preliminary works, however, sections will be closed during the reseal to allow the necessary machinery to access the trail.

Users of the trail may be asked to find alternate routes whilst these works are undertaken. Daily updates will be available on East Gippsland Rail Trail’s Facebook page.

Image: East Gippsland Rail Trail volunteer committee members, Alistair Campbell and Andrew Sharpe, discuss the works on the East Gippsland Rail Trail with Mick Crane, of Cranes Asphalting.

Great things are happening on the East Gippsland Rail Trail, with new trail distance signs showing the way. In a project jointly funded by the Victorian Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions, East Gippsland Shire and the volunteer East Gippsland Rail Trail committee of management, new signage has been installed along the full 98km length of the trail from Bairnsdale to Orbost.

The project has had a local input right from its inception to its final delivery. The volunteer committee of management recognised the need for standardised signage for both locals and tourists to get a better understanding of distances between points on the trail as well as other useful information. A style was agreed upon and that’s when Craig Dykes and his talented team at Signline in Bairnsdale came on board. Craig was enthusiastic about the job and helped the committee with great advice.

Employing local people and using locally sourced material was important and this has led to a fantastic outcome. The posts used for the signs are from nearby old bridges recently demolished. The signage was produced in the Bairnsdale factory of Signline and then Craig’s crew installed the 70-odd signs along the length of the trail. More is to come, so keep an eye on the trail’s Facebook page for more details.

Image: East Gippsland Rail Trail committee of management member, Al Campbell, Signline’s Craig Dykes, East Gippsland Rail Trail committee of management member, Andrew Sharpe, and Signline’s Haydn Erfurth with one of the East Gippsland Rail Trail’s new sign.