Dramatic street art, improved amenities and new visitor experiences are adding value to one of Victoria's great cycling journeys.
A major $8.5 million enhancement of the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail is providing visitors with even more reasons to slow down, stop, explore and stay longer across the towns and villages of Victoria's High Country.
Supported by the Victorian Government's Regional Tourism Infrastructure Fund and led by Tourism North East in partnership with the Rural City of Wangaratta, Indigo Shire and Alpine Shire, the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail Enhancements Project has introduced a collection of public art, landscaping, upgraded amenities, improved signage and infrastructure and new opportunities for visitor experiences along the trail.
The investment is expected to attract more than 17,500 additional visitors each year, generate $12.3 million in annual economic activity and support 65 ongoing jobs.
Tourism North East CEO Bess Nolan-Cook said the significance of the investment extended far beyond the physical trail.
“This $8.5 million investment is about much more than enhancing a cycling trail. It is an investment in the communities, towns, villages and businesses that sit along it and make the Murray to Mountains experience so distinctive,” Nolan-Cook said.
“Every rider who stops for coffee, visits a cellar door, stays overnight, buys from a local producer or discovers a town they may otherwise have passed by creates an economic ripple that extends throughout the region.
“The Murray to Mountains Rail Trail is unique because the trail itself is only part of the experience. It connects people with our landscapes, our food and wine and, importantly, the people behind the businesses they encounter along the way."
Installations include Beci Orpin's colourful Harvest Trail between Oxley and Milawa; Emily Floyd's larger-than-life Magpie Family between Bowser and Tarrawingee; Ronan Holdsworth's Birds of Seasons murals at the Rutherglen Silo Precinct; and Ben Gilbert of Agency of Sculptures at the Beechworth Railway Precinct.
At Yackandandah, Drez Studios' Mindful Tunnel transforms the rail-trail underpass into an immersive passage of rhythm, colour and perceptual play, while Alexander Knox's sculptural gateway sign creates a striking sense of arrival at the King Valley's Oxley entrance. Further along the trail, Skunk Control's Colour Bridge at Porepunkah celebrates the High Country's changing seasons through wildflower-inspired panels and integrated light.
Stretching through some of north-east Victoria's most celebrated landscapes and destinations, the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail connects visitors with Rutherglen, Wangaratta, Milawa, Oxley, Everton, Beechworth, Yackandandah, Eurobin, Porepunkah and Bright and their surrounding communities.
