Route Improvement Update: Mullum Mullum Creek Trail - Tindals Road to Park Road

The Mullum Mullum Creek Trail has the potiental to become a major trail in the near future. It is currently split into two sections, with difficult terrain and land to conquer in the middle gap area. At the moment you can ride from Croydon North through Ringwood and to the Mullum Mullum Park to connect with the Koonung Creek Trail which takes you along the Eastern Freeway to the city. There is also the forgotten section. This section of the trail gets minimum usage due to lack of access, especially from the southern end, although alot of Templestowe residents use it to get to the Main Yarra Trail, which leads to the Diamond Creek Trail and Westerfolds Park. I have tried three alternatives to reach the trail from the Mullum Mullum Creek Trail from Mullum Mullum Park, which I will detail below.

The first option had me leaving the Koonung Creek Trail at Mitcham Road and travelling on the shared path north west to Springvale Road, which I then went north up, before taking a right turn down Old Warrandyte Road (which had fairly recently been reconstructed with bike lanes :) ) to the trail entrance. This was the easiest way by far but the Springvale Road section was annoying since the two lane road with no proper shoulders forced me to follow the rough gravel path alongside the road and on some grass at some points.

The second option I will NEVER do again. I left the Koonung Creek Trail at Park Road, soon after leaving the Mullum Mullum Park and headed north. Park road is wider and has much less traffic which meant I could actually ride on the road here and I enjoyed the downhill to the tight corner, which just before this corner you will notice a short section of bike track and a car park. This is where the Mullum Mullum Creek Trail will eventually cross Park Road. I continued north through the corner and then turned left down McIntyres Road (Melways Ref 35 A12) and headed north. I spotted this route on the Melway and although it had "Steep" written next to the road, because it seemed to be a direct route to the trail entrance, I decided to give it a crack. I'm not the fittest cyclist (I also ride a MTB and don't wear lycra!) so it was abit of a struggle, even in low gear. There was a nice downhill in the middle, but the road surface changed from asphalt to gravel half way down the hill so I had to slow down :( . Then, when I thought I had reached Tindals Road, I had another steep hill ahead of me. I eventually got there, but then I had to turn left and travel west past Donvale Christian College. I got to the trail after all that.

Then there was the third option, which I took before taking the above second option. I decided to go down the incomplete Mullum Mullum Creek Trail section which started from the car park I talked about above on Park Road. The Manningham Council had a sign erected saying that there was no access to Tindals Road via the incomplete trail, but I naturally ignored it! The path was formed and gravel had been laid ready for asphalt to go on the top, a completed bridge allowed me to cross the creek once, and a small section already had been asphalted which was heaven to ride upon. The path then quickly turned back to grave and I approached a dilapidated wire fence with a "Private Property" sign as well as another Manningham Council sign, the same one as at the car park. I climbed my bike over the somewhat broken wire fence to have a peek. I got about 100m on natural earth before I had to stop. There was a roughly 3 metre cliff drop to the creek below. A footbridge is going to be constructed here. When I visited, the path supports on both sides of the creek had been constructed but that was it. I assessed possible options for me to cross the creek. I could have possibly done it by leaving my bike behind, but I decided against it. It would have been impossible with a bike so I had to abandon my curiosity trip and turn back. There was an adjoining natural earth trail which went up a hill between the wire fence and the cliff, but since I was on private property, it probably went to a residence so it would not be the right thing to do.


View Larger Map

Note: Map may be buggy. Pressing the zoom out (minus) button three times should fix it.

So that concludes my little trip out to Park Orchards / Donvale way. The section of path should be completed by the end of 2009. After that, only the section from Park Road to the Mullum Mullum Park to go, then we will have a handy link to the Yarra River from Ringwood!

Parts of the new "Victorian Bicycle Plan" are dripping through

This is exciting. The government is currently completing it's first major bicycle infrastructure review in over two decades. It was meant to be released this month but because of the tragic bushfires, this has now been pushed to March. Luckily, The Age has some leaked details which include

• Bicycle lanes on William and La Trobe Streets
• CBD blanket speed limit of 40 km/h to increase safety for cyclists
• Bicycle infrastructure to become mandatory for ALL new road projects.

While these leaked details are great, we need bicycle lanes on more inner city streets, plus a double bicycle lane (2 bike lanes side by side in one direction like a two lane carriageway) between St. Kilda and the Capital City Trail in North Fitzroy. We also need the Capital City Trail to be upgraded so the entire length is free of stairs (the ones near CityLink are being bypassed as we speak) and is 3 metres wide at all points except where it is unfeasible to do so. And every major break in the currently constructed off-road network needs the gaps removed.

Keep an eye on my blog in the near future for more updates as the release of the plan gets closer.

Source: Melbourne to get more bike lanes from The Age.

Sorry for the hold up!

Just a quick note to say that I have now started full time study and unfortunately, I now have less time to go bike riding and report on news and views. While I will still be active with this website, expect a lower amount of posts then usual. As much as I love blogging about our cycling network, I have to put my studies and my job ahead of this. Thank you for your consideration and for reading my blog.

Feelin' Hot, Hot, Hot!

This week in Melbourne has been increadible weather wise! Unfortunately, this extreme heat wave has forced me to not go riding (for those who don't know, I currently only ride a bike for recreation/fitness). Hopefully I will get to go out next week when it's abit cooler (even though it's only going to get to the low 30s). In the meantime, I will write a post on something which I happened to compile before the heat wave. Stay tuned for that post.

Poll Results: With on-road cycling, how far are you willing to go?

Alright, my third poll has now closed. Thanks to the eight people who had their say. Due to the nature of this poll, there is not too much I can comment on unlike my previous polls. The results are shown to the right:

It shows that visitors to my blog are cycling enthusiasts so to speak, which means people who are serious about cycling as well as the casual rider is also interested. It sometimes amazes me how many people are willing to participate in the "man vs. machine" fight for road space in a regular traffic lane. Personally, I would stick to nothing more than a marked bicycle lane but I have been on roads with a wide left lane before.

A new poll is now up. As always, feel free to have your say by choosing the option most applicable to you.

Gallery: Burwood Highway Pedestrian Bridge

Sorry I didn't post these up on Friday as I previously stated. I simply didn't have the time, but I do now. Here is a few quick snaps I have taken of the current state of the construction of the Burwood Highway Pedestrian bridge. Riders who do not reside around the area and only cycle around this area occasionally should find the following images useful.

Approach to Burwood Highway on the north side.

Closer shot of the approach to Burwood Highway on the north side.

Burwood Highway northern ramp.

Damaged EastLink Trail sign which has been tossed aside as construction continues.

Burwood Highway northern ramp as seen from southern side.

New bridge spans which were delivered to the site on Wednesday.

Another obscured view of the two spans.

Close-up view of one span. Notice the handrails.

Where the southern side ramp joins the existing trail.

The southern approach ramp.

I simply cannot wait until this bridge is finished, along with the Maroondah Highway bridge later this year (hopefully).

What trail am I riding on?

Although not a common issue on Melbourne's bicycle network, in the eastern suburbs, there is an emerging problem with the newly implemented trails which have recently been constructed. It is hard to know what trail you are actually riding on!

Take the example of these four trails: The Mullum Mullum Creek Trail, Koonung Creek Trail, EastLink Trail and Dandenong Creek Trail all intertwine and link and it has only been since June this year that the problem has been created. The simple question of "What trail am I riding on" needs to be answered. I will explain it as easily as I can here.

There are 2 parts to this post. The first is actually finding out what each stretch of trail is named. The second is an analysis of the intersection signage and why this confuses so many people! I will go through the first part initially. Please click the map below to view the full size.

ORANGE: Mullum Mullum Creek Trail
GREEN: Koonung Creek Trail
RED: EastLink Trail
BLUE: Dandenong Creek Trail
GREY: Other major trails
Dotted lines: Proposed trail / trail under construction
I will go through the intersections at a future date.

In quick site news, I have also updated the top banner. I will change the banner on a regular basis to show the site is still active as well as places along Melbourne's network which I believe are perfect for placement in the top banner.

Route Improvement Update: Burwood Highway Pedestrian Bridge

Just an update on the construction progress of the Burwood Highway Pedestrian Bridge at the intersection of Mountain Highway. For those with a foggy memory, the EastLink Trail currently crosses at this T intersection via three separate pedestrian activated traffic lights, which at the current moment, if a rider abides by the law and only rides when given a green man/bike light, it could easily take five minutes to cross from one side to the other! The new bridge would slash riding time to around 30 seconds. Quite an improvement I must say.

It was announced in a letter to local residents last November that the bridge should be finished early this year. The bridge reached another milestone today with the early morning delivery of the 2 bridge beams which will be joined together to construct the span over Burwood Highway. Whilst the design is different to other EastLink pedestrian bridges, in which there only the path and side walls, this bridge has the path, sides as well as a metal structure held up by poles with go up above head height then over the path as a partial covered way kind of structure. I will try to get some photos tomorrow and update this post.

In other pedestrian bridge related news, the Maroondah Highway Pedestrian Bridge has started drilling the pylons into the ground on the southern side for the access ramp to the main span while the East Malvern Pedestrian Footbridge is now CLOSED. A detour has been put in place along Malvern Road. I feel for regular Gardiners Creek / Scotchmans Creek Trail users having to put up with these long-term detours. At least the upgrade results are almost always worth the detours.

Looping Circuits: 65km Eastern Suburbs Creek Loop

I'm introducing a new type of blog post called "Looping Circuits". I will post up a review of a cycling circuit I have completed and commenting on it's pros and cons to give riders some ideas for some good trail circuits to complete if they are wanting something different in terms of riding environments.

This first circuit uses the EastLink Trail, a Jells Park un-named path, Scotchmans Creek Trail, Gardiners Creek Trail, Main Yarra Trail, Koonung Creek Trail and the Mullum Mullum Creek Trail (short section). All up it is very roughly 65km long. I managed to complete it about 4 hours 30 minutes, but that time includes strong winds, the use of a MTB, a on-road detour as a large section of the Gardiners Creek Trail was closed due to the M1 Upgrade and a rest at Dights Falls.

One fact to note is that I have never been on the Gardiners Creek Trail or the Scotchmans Creek Trail west of Blackburn Road. This ride was primarily a way of riding these trails for the first time. I also wanted to ride the trail around East Malvern before January 12, as that is when the bridge over the Monash Freeway (M1) will be demolished and a new cycle/pedestrian bridge will be built.

Here is a map of my route, with the base map coming from the brilliant OpenCycleMap, which is based off the OpenStreetMap site:

Positives:

Mostly off-road (excluding temporary Gardiners Creek Trail detour).

Many underpasses and bridges. There are not too many intersections to deal with and most are either local roads or traffic lights.

Mostly runs along creeks and through linear parks.

Virtually all sealed.

Links to many other trails along the way.

Negatives:

The on-road sections of the Scotchmans Creek Trail, but there is nothing that can really be done about this, unless you pay the residents to hand over a small slice of their land (2-4 metres from their back fence) to create room to run a shared path through it. If this unlikely concept went ahead, a shared path from Jells Park to the Watsons Road / Whites Lane roundabout is possible, which bypasses all the local roads through Wheelers Hill. On-road lanes would be applied to the rest of the on-road sections.
Gardiners Creek Trail detour (although it is temporary, it is still a negative, but at least a higher quality path will be built).

Not many directional signs. There are very good fingerboard signs to direct you along the on-road sections of the Scotchmans Creek Trail, but directional signage was lacking on the Gardiners Creek and Main Yarra Trails.

A few steep hills, mainly around Wheelers Hill and the Eastern Freeway area.

The Gipps Street and Chandler Highway steps. Both of these annoy me so damn much!

Some narrow sections which require you to take extra care and SLOW DOWN!!! I'm talking about the pipe bridge near the Fairfield Boathouse which needs the remaining pipeline removed and that side converted to a path as well.

The section of the Main Yarra Trail between the underpass to the Outer Circle Rail Trail and Bellford Road is quite dangerous as the path is narrow, unnecessarily windy and plainly quite dangerous considering it is on a quite steep slope. Tight almost right angle turns do not help.

Interesting:

The extremely long pedestrian underpass under the Monash Freeway in Mount Waverley. This was awesome to ride through and has to be Melbourne's longest shared path tunnel. A measurement on Google Earth told me it is an astounding 150 metres long!

The different types of surfaces and varying qualities of the trail, simply because there was so much variety. Some good, some bad. The section of the Gardiners Creek Trail where the pedestrians and cyclists are given their own space was very interesting. I wouldn't mind seeing this form of path in more places where there are a large amount of pedestrians using a shared path, such as in places like Jells Park and along the Capital City Trail where space permits.

The suspended footbridge under the Monash Freeway between the Main Yarra / Capital City Trail and Glenferrie Road was a totally different cycling experience. The unique red surface made it seem I was going quite fast up hill!

There is a short divided section of the Main Yarra / Capital City Trail next to the Yarra Boulevard which was quite different, all to save one large tree!

On a scale of 10, I give this looping circuit a 7. It loses points for lack of signage, poor standard of some sections of the trail and the two flights of steps.

Blind Creek Trail signage improvements made thanks to MBR?

You are probably getting abit tired of Blind Creek Trail directional signage posts but this should be the last one unless major improvement works are taken out.
Over a month ago I emailed Melissa Sparrow, Sustainable Transport Minister for Knox Council with suggestions for improvements they could make to the directional signage they are currently installing around the minicipality. I have had no reply so after the new year begins, I will send a follow-up email to the generic general equiries department of the council to find out if she has at least acknowledged my opinion.

Since all the signage was installed in early November, there have been two improvements made to the signage, but another error is made which adds to the lack of planning.

I present to you audience, the life of the installation of a bicycle trail directional sign:

The final product is shown above! It only took abit over 1 month to cook up. As you can see, we now have another reference to the Stud Road Trail, this time in the form of "Dandenong Creek Trail (Via Stud Road)", which is more in keeping with the sign at the Stud Road traffic lights, but is still slightly confusing with the other sign listed below...

At the intersection of the southern Burwood Highway Trail and the Blind Creek Trail, the sign was initally placed off the actual path where users will never see it. Since I posted the photo and my diagnosis on this blog, the sign has since been relocated along with the planks being swapped around for some reason, probably by workers re-assembling the sign and simply placing them in the wrong order. There has also been some minor tagging by vandals, but that is naturally expected in these areas and the signs look like they have been made to be vandal-resistant like the Metlink signage used around Melbourne.

Now I need to e-mail Parks Victoria to voice my opinion on the current state of the sub-standard signage of the area around the intersection of Dandenong Creek Trail and the Blind Creek Trail as well as Jells Park, again all after the new year.