For many years street kiosks have been scattered around the Melbourne CBD, selling newspapers, cigarettes, soft drinks, and snacks.
Flowers.
And even fruit.
Tracking down the kiosks
These kiosks are permanent structures designed, built, owned and maintained by the City of Melbourne, and fall into four categories.
Flower kiosks:
• Swanston Street, outside the Melbourne Town Hall
• Collins Street, outside the AXA building between Market and William Streets
Newspaper kiosks:
North west corner of Collins and Elizabeth Street.
• South east corner of Elizabeth and Little Bourke Streets.
• South east corner of Elizabeth and Latrobe Streets.
• North east corner of Bourke and Queen Streets.
• Collins Kiosk – north east corner of Collins and King Streets.
• South east corner of Elizabeth and Franklin Streets.
• North east corner of William & Bourke Streets.
• North west corner of Bourke & Swanston Streets.
• Bourke Street, between Swanston and Russell Streets.
• Swanston Street outside Melbourne Central.
• 21 Swanston Street, outside Commonwealth Bank.
• South east corner of Collins and Queen Streets.
• South west Corner of Spring and Collins Streets.
• Bourke Street corner of Harbour Esplanade, Docklands (outside NAB)
Fruit kiosks:
• Swanston Street – corner Collins Street
• Elizabeth Street – corner Bourke Street (outside GPO)
• Collins Street – west of Queen Street
• Elizabeth Street – south of Collins Street
• Bourke Street – west of Elizabeth Street
• corner Collins and Spencer streets – outside the Rialto building.
And newspaper cylinders:
• 260 Collins Street
• 461 Bourke Street
• 205 William Street
• 459 Collins Street
• Spencer Street, opposite Bourke Street
Death
But given that newspapers printed on dead trees are also dying, there is little use for newsstands any more.
Many kiosks looking run down.
Or boarded up.
And so in 2019 the City of Melbourne decided to reclaim the footpath space, and remove nine of the kiosks.
Melbourne nine CBD footpath kiosks will be scrapped before the end of the year.
Two of the kiosks are already gone, and another seven will not have their leases renewed in November.
Councillor Nicolas Frances-Gilley, council transport chairman for the City of Melbourne, told Ross and John the kiosks are being removed due to overcrowding in the city.
“We just really need the space,” he said.
There are nearly a million people using CBD footpaths everyday and that figure is expected to rise to 1.5 million people in 15 years.
“When you put something quite big on the pavement people walk around it and it’s getting people walking in the curb or onto the road and that’s really unsafe,” Cr Frances-Gilley said.
The council’s Street Trading Team Leader Hugh Kilgower said the kiosks, which sell newspapers and small items, had become anachronistic.
“When I was a kid, newspapers were sold at street corners. Council assisted newsagents back in the day with putting structures in place,” he said.
“Over time, the city has changed and evolved and there’s a lot more businesses around – 7-Elevens and supermarkets. The need for those kiosks has changed.”
Mr Kilgower said when the kiosks were installed 30 years ago the city was less active, but now they were creating “bottle necks” for foot traffic. He said this congestion was also a reason for the decision.
Council transport chairman Nicolas Frances Gilley told the Herald Sun the kiosks initially helped activate the city.
“We have great respect for the historical and cultural value of the kiosks, so we have begun reaching out for find new homes for the structures once they are removed,” he said.
Leaving behind fresh patches of asphalt, like this one at Bourke and Queen Street.
Or this concrete plinth at Swanston and Bourke Street.
But one kiosk I’m definitely glad to see gone is the one at Elizabeth and La Trobe Street, which blocked the entrance to Melbourne Central Station.
Today a fence still blocks access to the neighbouring tram stop, but at least the footpath is wider.
And rebirth
But for other kiosks, the City of Melbourne has expanded the range of uses, selecting tenants based on “uniqueness, diversity, experience, capability, past performance track record, customer service, visual presentation, financial, social and environmental sustainability”
This one on Elizabeth Street sells baked goods.
Over on Swanston Street crepes are being freshly cooked.
And down the street hot chocolates are for sale.
While a handful of cylinders have been designed for “pop-up” retail use, like this one selling pot plants.
These five pop-up locations being:
• Adjacent to 236 Swanston Street
• Adjacent to 461 Bourke Street
• Adjacent to 156 Elizabeth Street
• Adjacent to 60 Elizabeth Street
• Spencer Street, west of Bourke Street
Camperdown station on the Warrnambool line only has a single platform, in the middle of a long section of single track railway – but until December 2022 every morning the Melbourne-bound and Warrnambool-bound V/Line services would cross there. The answer is a “reverse cross” – but how did it work?
The “reverse cross”
The V/Line train from Warrnambool would be the first to arrive at Camperdown.
And arrive into the platform.
Passengers would board the train, then the conductor would blow their whistle for the train to depart.
It would then reverse out of the platform, back towards Warrnambool.
The signaller would throw the points towards the crossing loop.
So the train could wait clear of the platform.
The signaller would then throw the points back towards to the mainline.
And change the signals to allow the train from Melbourne to arrive.
Then wait.
Soon enough, the Warrnambool-bound train would arrive.
Pass the waiting Melbourne-bound train.
Passengers for Warrnambool would board.
And then the train would depart the platform.
Leaving Camperdown and the other train behind.
The signaller would then walk to the Melbourne end of the yard, and throw the points towards the crossing loop.
Allowing the Melbourne-bound train to continue on it’s journey.
On the single track towards Geelong.
And today
November 2022 was the last time a scheduled “reverse cross” happened at Camperdown, or anywhere else in Victoria.
Warrnambool line trains now cross at Boorcan Loop, located a few kilometres west of Camperdown.
It was built as part of the $284.7 million ‘Warrnambool Rail Upgrade’ project.
The new loop at Boorcan is made up of a 185m long loop at the up end and a 912m loop at the down end, forming a crossing loop of 1756m total length, and all remotely controlled from V/Line’s ‘Centrol’ train control centre in Melbourne.
As a part of the same works, the crossing loop at Camperdown was downgraded to a siding.
Footnote from the past
A related move once happened at Marshall station, with counter-peak train put into the loop siding so they could cross Waurn Ponds trains in the opposite direction.
And even further back in time, reverse crosses once occurred at Winchelsea for trains operated by West Coast Railway.
South Yarra station was also becoming surrounded by new apartment blocks, but the single station entrance was struggling to cope – a problem not addressed until 2020.
But Footscray was getting an expanded station as part of the Regional Rail Link project.
The near-new footbridge demolished to make room for two additional platforms.
And Metro had unveiled a new infrastructure inspection train, in an attempt to address a spate of overhead wire failures crippling the rail network.
This is the story of Lynch’s Bridge over the Maribyrnong River in Melbourne’s west, connecting Smithfield Road in Flemington to Ballarat Road in Footscray.
On the downstream side is the original 1936 bridge, with art deco-styled decorative parapets, pillars, and light fittings.
And beside it a far more utilitarian concrete bridge completed in 1992.
In the beginning
Lynch’s Bridge was an early crossing place on the Maribyrnong River for those headed west of Melbourne, with owner of the neighbouring Pioneer Hotel, Michael Lynch, operating a punt on the site from 1849. A competing crossing was operated by Joseph Raleigh at Maribyrnong, which replaced his punt with a bridge in 1858.
And so in 1863 Michael Lynch petitioned the government for permission to replace his punt with a pontoon bridge, provided he was granted a half acre of land on the eastern bank of the river for the abutments and approaches.
However that was not the end of the saga – in October 1901 Lynch’s Bridge was closed by the Public Works Department due to it falling into disrepair, and a Mr J. Byers erected a pontoon bridge beside it to carry traffic to Flemington Racecourse, for a “small toll” of one penny. The debate as to who should fund the cost of a new bridge continued in the months that followed, with a tender finally awarded in December 1902 – eighteen months since the bridge was closed.
The new bridge opened without ceremony in May 1903, after contractors finished their work and left it open for traffic, with members of the Flemington and Kensington Council holding an official opening a few days later, without the involvement of the Footscray Council who also funded it.
The Footscray Council and the City of Melbourne then considered a number of options for a permanent crossing – a new five span reinforced concrete bridge for £38,750, a new three span steel bridge for £35,900, or extending the life for the existing bridge for five years for £2,250. The Footscray Council objected having to fund half the cost of a new bridge, delaying the start of construction, with an agreement finally reached in January 1936 for the Country Roads Board to pay half the cost of the project.
Opened in 1939, the new Lynch’s Bridge was built on a different angle to the timber bridge it replaced, allowing Ballarat Road to be realigned to meet Smithfield Road, eliminating a dangerous curve on the Footscray side. The Footscray Council suggested naming the new bridge ‘Gent’s Bridge’ after the Town Clerk of Footscray, but it came to nothing.
Traffic troubles
As Melbourne grew, the amount of traffic using Lynch’s Bridge grew – 43,000 vehicles per day using it in 1989, half the volume that used the West Gate Bridge. And the area became known as a blackspot for motor vehicle crashes, with the 1985-88 period seeing 79 separate incidents, including 16 head-on collisions, and nine deaths.
Excessive speed was the main cause of car accidents on Lynch’s Bridge in Kensington, an inquest on three deaths on the bridge was told yesterday.
Sergeant Noel Osborne, of the accident Investigation section at Brunswick, said that despite measures to make the four-lane bridge safer, most vehicles approached it too fast.
The deputy state coroner, Mr Graeme Johnstone, is holding joint inquests on Kevin John Lewis, 35, of Broadmeadows, and Emily Jane Stonehouse, 4, of Werribee, who were killed in an accident on 23 October 1988, and Matthew James Simmons, 25, of Box Hill, who died in an accident on 14 February this year.
Lynch’s Bridge crosses the Maribyrnong River near Flemington Racecourse. The approach from Footscray, on Ballarat Road, has three lanes that narrow to two before a sharp left-hand bend on to the bridge. The Smithfield Road approach, from Flemington, is two lanes.
Sergeant Osborne, asked by Mr Johnstone to suggest safety measures, said that even if the Ballarat Road approach was narrowed to one lane in an effort to slow traffic, he believed many drivers would still try to take the bend too fast. He said the answer was to duplicate the bridge.
“That in my mind is the answer. We certainly would not be having the head-ons as we are now. The number of people killed at this location has caused me great concern. It appears that not a great deal has been done.”
Mr John Connell, of the Roads Corporation, said speed cameras had shown that more than 70 per cent of vehicles approaching the bridge on Ballarat Road travelled faster than the 60 kmh speed limit. The fastest speed had been 139 kmh despite signs recommending 55 kmh.
Peter James McDonald, a truck driver from Maidstone who crosses Lynch’s Bridge regularly, said that at the time of the accident involving Mr Simmons, the camber of the road pulled vehicles to the right as they turned left on to the bridge from Ballarat Road. The inquiry is continuing
The inquest heard that duplication of the bridge had been proposed in 1975, with the cost in 1989 money estimated to be $3 million.
In his findings to the 1989 inquest, Coroner Graeme Johnstone noted that the 1938 bridge was not unsuitable for the volume and speed of traffic passing over it, recommending that the Ballarat Road approach to the bridge be restructured so that the three-to-two lane merge is further from the sharp bend onto the bridge, and that the VicRoads make duplication of the bridge a priority in their road improvement program.
As a result, a duplicate bridge on the upstream side of original bridge was completed in 1992, allowing the 1936 bridge to be dedicated to westbound traffic.
The duplication of Lynch’s Bridge and road approaches at Flemington was opened to traffic in April 1992 and has eliminated one of Melbourne’s worst accident blackspots. In accordance with a Coronial Inquiry recommendation to fast track the works, new technology for bridgeworks and roadworks construction was used. Road approaches over poor ground conditions utilised polystyrene as lightweight fill – a first for VicRoads and Australia. The method reduces road settlements to manageable levels and achieves cost savings over more conventional alternatives. The project was completed in June 1992 at a cost of $5.5million.
And finally – another upgrade
In August 2019 it was announced that Lynch’s Bridge would be upgraded as part of the Western Road Upgrade public–private partnership.
A National Trust-listed bridge which was once the main gateway to Melbourne’s west will be upgraded this week as part of the Victorian Government’s Suburban Roads Upgrade.
Member for Footscray Katie Hall today announced the start of important work to rehabilitate the Ballarat Road Bridge, under the $1.8 billion Western Roads Upgrade.
The crossings over the Maribyrnong River are steeped in history, with the outbound Lynch’s Bridge built in 1936 and heritage listed for its “historical and technical significance” by the National Trust in 2005. Millions of Victorians and visitors would have crossed this bridge in some form.
Lynch’s Bridge also holds technical engineering significance, as one of the first steel and concrete crossings designed so the reinforced concrete deck works together with the steel beams.
The historic five-span bridge sits alongside its more modern counterpart known as the Smithfield Bridge, which was built in 1990.
The 108-metre bridges will undergo work to strengthen them for the future for up to 45,000 vehicles which travel over them every day.
It is anticipated they’ll be used by up to 50,000 cars and trucks daily by 2031.
The art-deco style of Lynch’s Bridge will be preserved as safety barriers are upgraded on both bridges, and footpaths and drainage will also be improved.
There will be some lane closures in place as this work is underway to ensure road crews can work safely and quickly.
– removed old barriers and replaced them with new safety barriers
– installed cathodic corrosion protection to protect the metal bridge supports from rust and deterioration
– resurfaced the road on the bridges and on approach to the bridges
– removed features no longer needed such as broken lights.
But the big new crash barriers are easy to see when driving past.
But one thing that is obvious is the focus on motor vehicles, not active transport.
The bridge has enough space for a grass median strip!
Yet pedestrians are forced into a narrow footpath.
And cyclists are given a narrow strip of asphalt, centimetres from passing vehicles.
Pretty crap upgrade, isn’t it?
Footnote: water under the bridge
When I visited Lynch’s Bridge in December 2020, I noticed these new looking steel additions to the piers of the 1992 bridge.
My initial thought was strengthening work linked to the Western Road Upgrade project, but turns out I was wrong – it’s actually linked to the West Gate “Tunnel” Project.
🚧 West Gate Tunnel Project crews have started working on modifications to streamline the piers on the Smithfield Road Bridge.
⛴️ These works will help during high flows in Maribyrnong River and mitigate flooding once our new Maribyrnong River bridge is built. Gaps between the columns will be filled with concrete to create a wall type pier with rounding at both ends.
The works required to compensate for new piers in the Maribyrnong River at Footscray.
