“Option 2” set to end long Hawke St saga as council moves to lock in greening plan

After years of redesigns, delays and community frustration, the City of Melbourne appears finally set to bring the long-running Hawke St greening saga to a close, with councillors expected to endorse the now clearly preferred “Option 2” at the Future Melbourne Committee meeting on May 19.

A new council report recommends approval of the refined Option 2 design, allowing the project to move into detailed design and documentation ahead of delivery. The report says the revised concept emerged as the clear community favourite during consultation, with 49 per cent of respondents backing it, compared with 28 per cent for Option 1. Another 16 per cent liked neither option, while seven per cent supported elements of both.

The decision marks a significant moment for West Melbourne, where Hawke St has become one of the city’s most contested local streets in the wake of the West Gate Tunnel project and the collapse of the original Hawke Street Linear Park concept.

As previously reported by North West City News, the council was forced back to the drawing board after the 2023 endorsed design was found to be unworkable because of a high-pressure gas main and other underground and overhead service constraints.

The redesign process triggered fresh debate among residents, including a 269-signature petition from locals arguing that the city’s proposed concepts would bring traffic closer to homes and reduce amenity on the south side of the street.

But the new report makes clear that the city does not accept that characterisation.

According to management, the proposed concept “does not alter the existing kerb alignment and therefore maintains the current separation between residential properties and the adjacent traffic lane”. It says the inclusion of a protected bicycle lane would in fact increase the overall distance between dwellings and moving traffic compared with the current layout.

Council also says all existing trees between residential properties and the roadway are to be retained, directly rebutting one of the major concerns raised by petitioners.

The report goes further, arguing that the residents’ alternative concept would actually weaken the project’s greening outcome. It says the petition proposal would require the removal of the planned 934 sqm expansion of Hawke and Curzon Street Reserve, replacing it with a much smaller landscaped kerb extension and resulting in a significant net reduction in greening. It also says the petition design could not safely accommodate both two traffic lanes and protected bicycle lanes without reducing the centre median and potentially affecting existing trees.

Option 2 as shown in the council report.

The attraction of Option 2 is obvious in the numbers.

Under the report, Option 1 would have removed the centre median and all 23 existing median trees between Adderley and King streets, delivering 164 trees overall and an estimated 34 per cent canopy cover. Option 2 instead expands the centre median, retains and enhances its landscape role, and lifts the total tree count to 240 with projected canopy cover of 43 per cent. It also slightly reduces on-street parking from 102 spaces under Option 1 to 96 under Option 2, while further expanding Hawke and Curzon Street Reserve and adding more greening and buffer planting opposite the reserve.

The report notes that the project is part of the broader Transport and Amenity Program intended to offset some of the impacts of the West Gate Tunnel on roads in the City of Melbourne. It says the design remains subject to formal ministerial approval and Treasury release of state funding, but that early traffic analysis suggests the volumes and patterns should support the proposal.

Community engagement has been extensive. The project has now gone through four phases of consultation, including the most recent round between December 2025 and February 2026, when residents were asked to choose between the two revised options. Council says there is now a strong desire for “resolution to come quickly” after years of repeated consultation and changing designs.

For many in West Melbourne, that may be the biggest takeaway.

The Hawke St project has been under discussion for more than a decade, first through the West Melbourne Structure Plan and then as part of the city’s response to West Gate Tunnel traffic. It has become symbolic of both the promise and the frustration of trying to retrofit more greenery, safer cycling and better public space into streets heavily constrained by utilities and transport infrastructure.

If councillors endorse Option 2 as expected, the project will progress through detailed design and approvals before construction can begin.