__NOTOC__ The Northern Pipe Trail (previously known as the St Georges Road Trail), is a shared-use path for

cyclists Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world for pur ...

and

pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the '' sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British En ...

s that follows Cheddar and St Georges Roads in the northern suburbs of

Reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

, Preston and Thornbury in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The trail mostly runs up the centre of St Georges Road, making use of the wide median strip. It was originally developed as the St George's Road Trail in the mid 1990s. It received the current name after an upgrade related to replacing a major water main in 2019.

Following the path

Leave the

Western Ring Road Trail __NOTOC__ The M80 Trail (previously known as the Western Ring Road Trail) is a shared-use Bike path, path for cycling, cyclists and pedestrians that Bridge, bridges the northern suburbs and follows the Western Ring Road, Western Ring Road/Metropo ...

at Dalton Road. There are no signs to the St Georges Road Trail at this point. Dalton Road is unsuitable for cycling due to the heavy vehicles using the road. Using the footpath on the west side of Dalton Road, continue 400m south from the highway, to the start of a 600m low quality sandy shared path in the

City of Whittlesea The City of Whittlesea is a local government area located in the outer northern suburbs of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covers an area of , and in June 2023, it had an estimated population of 245,029 and is one ...

. It ends 160 metres north of the Keon Pde/Dalton Rd/Tunaley Pde intersection. Continue on the west side of Dalton Rd via the footpath to the intersection. Use the pedestrian crossing to cross to the east side of Dalton Rd and Tunaley Pde. The high quality trail in the

City of Darebin The City of Darebin () is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. It has an area of and in June 2018 Darebin had a population of 161,609. Municipal offices are located at 350 High Street, Preston. ...

, starts at Tunaley Pde, 1.4 km from the Metropolitan Ring Road and heads down the Yan Yean pipe reserve.Melbourne Water - pipeline upgrade
/ref> From there it follows Cheddar Road to a large intersection at the

shopping area and comes to a stop. Use the pedestrian crossings to cross SW to

Reservoir railway station Reservoir railway station is a commuter railway station on the Mernda line, which is part of the Railways in Melbourne, Melbourne railway network. It serves the north-eastern suburb of Reservoir, Victoria, Reservoir, in Melbourne, Victoria, Aus ...

. The path restarts adjacent to the station car park. Continue between the reservoirs hiding behind the rows of trees lining the street on either side. The path continues diagonally in the GE Robinson reserve, beside the palms. On the south side of the park the trail runs parallel to Robinson Road past

Regent railway station Regent railway station is a commuter railway station on the Mernda line, which is part of the Railways in Melbourne, Melbourne railway network. It serves the northern suburb of Reservoir, Victoria, Reservoir, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, ...

. Follow the train line. 600m later, the path crosses the tracks and soon reaches St Georges Road and Murray Road. Carefully cross over to the dividing strip going down the middle of St Georges Road. The path passes the Preston campus of

Melbourne Polytechnic Melbourne Polytechnic, formerly NMIT, is an institute of higher education and vocational education (TAFE) located in Melbourne, Australia that has been operating since around 1910. In October 2014, the institute was renamed to Melbourne Polyt ...

. The trail stays on the dividing strip the whole way, except for a 500m section, between Ray Braham Gardens and Miller Street by the

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

corral. The most southerly end of the trail is the junction of St Georges Road, Charles Street and Merri Parade. A roundabout was previously in the junction, but it was a blackspot for cyclists,
Danger in a roundabout way
', part of ''Cycling the City - an AGE series''. The Age October 2, 2006 and was removed in 2009. The Merri Creek Trail and

Capital City Trail __NOTOC__ The Capital City Trail is a shared use path in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria, Australia, which circles the Melbourne city centre, city centre and some inner eastern and northern suburbs. It is 29 km in length, and mo ...

can be accessed by proceeding to the nearby Merri Parade.

Connections

*Nearly reaches the

in the north *Connects to the Merri Creek Trail in the south. *In April 2010 connections to the

were improved with the addition of a new bridge across Merri Creek, 160m south of the junction of Union Street and Merri Parade, not far from the St Georges Road trail. North end at . South end at .

References

*''Bike rides around Melbourne'' 3rd edition, 2009, Julia Blunden, Open Spaces Publishing,

External links

Bicycle Victoria - Black spots
* {{Bicycle Trails in Melbourne Bike paths in Melbourne