East: Gardiners Creek Trail

Bank on a Gardiners Creek diversion

19 January 2010. A project to rebuild the bank of the Gardiner's Creek at High Street, Glen Iris, will require a route diversion for the next month or so.

Riders will not be able to pass under the High Street Bridge because of work to control erosion of a 60 metre section of the creek's north bank.

Bicycles and pedestrians will be detoured away from the creek along Brixton Rise and High Street, crossing at the pedestrian crossing.

The work is being undertaken by Melbourne Water.

More than 850 plants will be used to revegetate the project area following the erosion control works. Replacing non-indigenous vegetation with native plants will, in time, help to improve the environmental health of the area and create a better habitat for fish, birds and insects.

More details, including a map are here.

Council acts on car menace

26 August 2009. Boroondara Council has undertaken to act against cars which are illegally driving over and parking on the Gardiners Creek Trail at Tooronga.

The Council has already installed bollards at the main entry point being used by the drivers.

However they have since adopted another entry strategy which takes them on a longer journey down the Creek embankment and along the trail, further imperilling bike riders and pedestrians.

The Council is now considering further measures to stamp out the habit.

It has been suggested that the offenders are associated with the Stockland property development nearby. It would not be positive for that company's reputation if this was true, and the vehicles continued to pose a hazard.

Long wait over on Gardiners Creek

28 July 2009. The year-long closure of the popular Gardiners Creek Trail in Malvern and Glen Iris ends Friday afternoon, and commuters will once again return to their preferred route.

The section has been closed due to Monash Freeway widening works and the development of the Glen Iris Wetland.

The upgraded section of the trail between Great Valley Road, Glen Iris, and Tooronga Road, Gardiner will reopen to the public at 1pm on Friday, 31 July 2009.

Following its re-opening, the temporary detour route via Tooronga Road/Carroll Crescent/Wills Street/Great Valley Road will be removed.

The Monash Alliance is resurfacing and line-marking the trail between Great Valley Road and Burke Road.

Over the course of the next few months further enhancements will be made to other sections of the Gardiners Creek bike path in consultation with Bicycle Victoria and the local municipalities.

Further out work is underway on bridge construction at East Malvern Station.
 

Monash Freeway widening and Wetlands Trail disruptions to end

21 July 2009 The path closure between great Valley and Tooronga Roads is about to end. Our Advise is that the path will be opened at 1pm on Friday 31July.

 

  

Fed funds send Gardiners Creek trail wrong way

4 May 2009. Federal Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese has committed $2.5M to send the Gardiners Creek path in Ashburton in exactly the wrong direction.

The section of the trail from the Malvern Valley Golf Course to Warrigal Road has long been considered the 'missing link' on an otherwise popular commuter and recreation route.

Bicycle Victoria members have been campaigning for five years to have the connection completed.

The lack of an underpass for the trail at Warrigal Road has long been the barrier, given the high construction costs.

Wisely, Albanese has seen the good sense of building just such an underpass, committing funds from the Government's $800M community infrastructure program.

But then he went and ruined his good work by sending the trail up hill and down dale, across roads and every which-way, except the obvious, simple and direct route along the Creek. It is obvious, surely, that the Gardiners Creek trail belongs along the Creek.

For the full story on how this simple trail connection headed up the road to ruin, read below.

The Minister has been poorly advised on this matter. Fortunately there is time to get the project back on track.

Detours and upcoming effects on the path

15 July Some time today the Gardiners Ck path was closed by the Stocklands Development east of Tooronga Rd. You can give feedback to Council, Stockland and CC us here

Jun 06 The Monash Freeway upgrade, Stocklands Development, Tooronga Wetlands and other projects will have a short to medium term effect on the path. Read more here

The creekside alignment is under threat

Mar08 We have written to Gavin Jennings (Parks Victoria) and Tim Pallas (Department of Infrastructure as well as the CEOs of those organisations asking them to help the resolve the situation and ensure that the best path gets built. We have also written to Boroondara stressing the importance of building the creekside route rather than the local route they propose.

The local link will not effectively open up the Gardiners Creek Path to residents of Monash and Whitehorse. The creekside route will connect residents of Ashwood, Burwood, Box Hill South and Blackburn into the Metropolitan Trail Network.

We made the point that the Parks Victoria strategy Linking People and Spaces (2004) identifies an action for the 2008 – 2012 period of ‘Close all the gaps in the Gardiners Creek Trail between East Malvern and Blackburn Lake Sanctuary and provide an on-road link north to the Koonung Creek Trail.’

We said that the local link does not meet the aim in the Strategy.

We will keep you up to date as the issue develops.

Feb08 We have reached a critical moment in the effort to get a link between the Solway Bridge and Warrigal Road - see panel to the right.

The Department of Infrastructure has just announced funding for an alternative to the creekside route. They want us to head away from the creek, (following the orange rider in the picture), go around two sides of a triangle and climb high up into Boorondara rather than go along the creekside route you can see in the picture above. See map below.

We immediately entered urgent talks with the Department but they are firm in their desire to fund the inferior route.

We have spoken to the Minister's office about this issue today 28 February. We will keep you in touch with how the issue develops. Over the coming days we will contact members directly who live in the affected municipalities - Whitehorse, Monash, Stonnington and Boroondara. There will be an update in the next In the Loop for all other members. If this is an important issue for you, click email me updates and you will be notified when this page is changed significantly.

The story so far

In 2003 consultants working for Stonnington identified two routes that would link the Bridge to the underpass at Warrigal Road. See panel opposite. Both of these routes to a greater or lesser extent ran inside the Malvern Valley Public Golf Course. We support either of these routes, but prefer the northern alignment. The photo shows the existing benching that the northern route would use.

In 2006 Stonnington changed tack and appointed a Hansens a new consultant who prepared a report without consulting Bicycle Victoria, Boorondara or Monash. A Stonnington Council officer released the report, saying that they had commissioned the Hansen study in order to get the trail out of Stonnington. From then on Stonnington has lobbied for a route that lies completely inside Boorondara.

The Hansens alignment is a joke. From Warrigal Road it climbs to Markham Road (following the orange rider in thepicture) and then turns away from the creek and climbs further to join the Anniversary Trail a kilometre uphill from the Creek. We judge it to be indirect and too steep. It also introduces two road crossings. The 2003 alignments are clearly superior and more consistent with the purpose of the Metropolitan Trail Network.

In 2006 Parks Victoria commited $250 000 towards a link. We have been asking them not to contribute this money to a poor alignment - in particular the one identified by Hansens. 

In 2007 a Council officer at Stonnington told Bicycle Victoria at a meeting that he wasn't going to endorse any route that went through any part of the golf course as he was a member of this particular golf course. This could explain the change of approach between 2003 and 2006.

In 2007 Bicycle Victoria had site visits at the Warrigal Road bridge with VicRoads, Parks Victoria and Boorondara Council. Subsequent to this meeting VicRoads funded the feasibility study for the underpass and said - if the trail was on a sound alignment and could serve a transport purpose - that they would look favourably on an application to fund the $1.2m underpass and bridge.

Last week we were surprised when the Department of Infrastructure entered the picture with a grant of $250 000 towards the link. The DoI officers responsible have had no conversations with us about this link. In some ways this DoI money is good news as we estimate that the 2003 routes will cost $500 000 from Solway Bridge to the Warrigal Road bridge (without building the underpass). However the DoI officers nominated the Hansen route.

We immediately contacted the Minister and explained the importance of the creekside routes.

Refer to colour-codes on map below:
Blue existing
Purple and Red proposed poor alignment
BV preferred = light Green exists and dark green needs to get built 

View Larger Map

 

Flood damaged repaired and trail re-opened

Jan 08 Boroondara Council has advised that the Gardiners Creek Trail, between Tooronga Road and Burke Road, has been re-opened. The trail was damaged when part of the bank collapsed into the Gardiners Creek in early January.

The trail was re-opened to the public on January 16. Thanks to the Boroonadara Council and Melbourne Water for working together to get this important shared path back up and running so quickly.

Partial collapse of Gardiners Creek Trail

Jan 08 Boroondara Council has advised that the trail will be closed between Tooronga Road and Burke Road between 7 January 2008 to 20 January 2008 to allow Melbourne Water to undertake urgent remedial works.

Trail users are advised to seek alternatives routes (see map below).

Please be aware that there will also be increased pedestrian numbers on the trail around Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club between January 9-12 due to the AAMI Classic.

For more information, please call 9278 4444.

Jan 08 Recent heavy rainfall has caused the partial removal of a section of Gardiners Creek Trail in Glen Iris.

Trail users are advised to exercise caution near the damaged section, 200m east of Toroonga Road (old Brickworks site / Coles Group Building).

The trail was damaged when part of the bank collapsed into Gardiners Creek.

Access through the trail is still possible, although barricades have been erected halving the trail's width.

Council have requested Melbourne Water to undertake remedial works as soon as possible, and will continue to monitor sections of the trail for any further erosion.

Map of Detour

Blue Line - Inbound detour route

Red Line - Outbound detour route

Click on View Larger Map for greater detail.

Path Upgrade

Apr 07 City of Boroondara are continuing to upgrade sections of the Gardiners Creek Trail, one of Melbourne's busiest offroad commuter routes carrying over 500 riders in the 7-9am weekday peak into town.

Many sections of the path are 'first generation' path which did not anticipate the high levels of use and had many bends and conflict points designed into it. The path in Dorothy Laver reserve (Melways 58 K10) is being reconstructed to higher quality of 3m wide hotmix with concrete edging (refer photo. Note second pass of bitumen nor line marking had not been applied at time of photo being taken).

The path was also designed to minimise the many bends that existed. This will reduce  rider/pedestrian conflict and blind-spots near foliage.

City of Boroondara are also proceeding with an audit of the Gardiners Creek Trail in conjunction with BoroodnaraBUG, Bicycle Victoria and consultants. This is part of an initiative to identify a priority list for improvements, help with funding applications to internal and external sources, and to help manage liability concerns.

Announcement of $250,000 to close missing link.

Nov 06 Minister for Transport Peter Batchelor and local MP Bob Stensholt have made an election promise of "a $250,000 commitment to complete the missing link in the Gardiner’s Creek Trail"

The funding is welcomed by Bicycle Victoria however the proposed route is a very poor option for riders.

'The proposed path would follow Gardiner’s Creek on the north side from west of Warrigal Road until the Markham Reserve soccer oval. The path would then run next to the oval up to Markham Ave and continue as a shared off road path along Markham Road to Ashburn Grove and on to join the existing Anniversary Trail.'

Click here for a full copy of the announcement.

Bicycle Victoria will be strongly advocating for a more direct route that avoids heading north up to Markham Avenue before heading south again to reach the Gardner's Creek Trail (see below for details).

Boroondara Council will be consulting with satkeholders and the community in the coming months. Click on email me updates above to stay informed.

Missing section of trail between Solway St, Ashburton and Warrigal Roads

Jun 06 After inadequate consultation with stakeholders, the City of Stonnington Report has been presented to some interested parties. Bicycle Victoria is very disappointed with the proposed route for the connection and at this stage is not supporting the project.

The current proposal does not utilise the southern bank of the creek for the trail, which is the most direct. This proposal does not cater for all users of the trail and while it may provide an indirect (and somewhat frustrating link) for recreational riders, it will not serve as a transport trail.

We will be working with all relevent councils and government agencies to make sure this project delivers an adequate outcome.

Jan 06 The City of Stonnington was successful in receiving a grant for $30,000 and has recently appointed Hansen Landscape Architects to undertake masterplan works for this section of the trail.

Initial site investigation will commence shortly, with community and stakeholder consultation expected in late February/March. Bicycle Victoria will be consulted as a stakeholder in the design process.

Feb 05 Boroondara, Monash and Stonnington City Councils are working to fill the Gap in the Gardiners Creek Trail.

Stonnington City Council made a Sports and Recreation funding application through the state government to fund a masterplan.

If granted, Stonnington Counicl will back the grant dollar for dollar and will begin work on a masterplan in the next financial year (2005/06). Council expects to then begin work on the trail in the following financial year (2006/07).

Boroondara City Council developed a masterplan for Markham Reserve which includes a bike path. Council is currently considering their spending allocations for next financial year and is considering this project.

If funding is allocated work will begin in the next financial year.

Background

This long-standing gap in the trail network needs to be fixed, especially since signs went up in Malvern Valley Public Golf Course banning pedestrians and cyclists from using an access track through the golf course in December 2003.

The Gardiners Creek Trail currently finishes at the Solway St bridge at the intersection with the Scotchmans Creek Trail and Anniversary Trail (Melway map 69 B1).

It starts again at Warrigal Rd Melway map 60 G12) but there is no direct connection between these two sections of trail. Some walkers and bike riders had been using a "short cut" through Malvern Valley Public Golf Course but public liability concerns have seen this banned (see picture). 

Both Stonnington and Boroondara Councils need to work together to investigate the best alignment to complete the Gardiners Creek Trail. It is likely that the trail will include a section in Stonnington through the golf course and then crossing the creek into Markham reserve in Boroondara.

On 10 March 2004 Bicycle Victoria met on site with the Stonnington Ward Councillor, Judy Hindle, and Stonnington Council staff.

Boroondara Ward Councillor, Keith Walter, was unable to attend but has indicated his interest in the issue.  Boroondara Council staff also attended the site meeting to look at the location and discuss how the gap can be addressed.

As a result of the meeting Boroondara and Stonnington staff will liase to see how a joint concept plan can be developed. Both councils have looked at the issue individually in the past but not jointly.

The old plans only utilise the Stonnington side of the creek and were never implemented.

New public liability requirements would require safety fencing along the entire length of the trail if it were to remain on the Stonnington side so crossing the creek to Markham reserve would also be more aestetically pleasing and benefit residents in both council areas.

The first priority for the councils is to replace the Solway St bridge which has reached the end of it's life but Bicycle Victoria believes the completion of the Gardiners Creek Trail through this section should also be a high priority.

You may wish to write to either or both councils to indicate your support for the project and how it would make things better for you. See our Get it fixed web page.

Gardiners Creek Trail in Whitehorse

Jun 04 Bicycle Victoria has written to the Whitehorse council to request that improvements are made to the Gardiners Creek Trail. Suggested improvement include:

• Centre line marking to clearly define where the trail goes, particularly at intersections with minor paths and at road crossings. The trail appears to 'disappear' in places and it is not obvious where it continues.
• Realigning the trail on the south side of Burwood Rd to improve the connection to the pedestrian crossing
• Improving the connection of the trail at Box Hill Golf Course between Station St and Sycamore St and make the existing on-road bits more legible.

Jan 03 Whitehorse council opened the Box Hill South section of the Gardiners Creek trail. The trail runs from Canterbury Rd to Box Hill Golf Club, then continues on local roads to meet the existing path from Station St to Warrigal Rd (Melway ref 61 E2-D3). This section of trail had previously been fenced off from public access after concerns were raised by the Golf Club in May 2001.

What we are asking for

The Gardiners Creek Path is one of Melbourne's busiest commuter and recreation paths. It is,  however, only half built. Outbound from the city the trail ends at the end of the Anniversary Trail. Downstream from Blackburn some sections have been built. These sections end at Warrigal Road.

We are asking for a creekside link east from the Solway Bridge to Warrigal Road. At Warrigal Road we are asking for an underpass on the north side and a bridge over to the left bank of the creek.

Two alternative alignments for this link have been prepared by consultants in 2003. We are asking for one or other of those two sections to be constructed.

Here are the routes proposed by the consultants.

From here we are asking for connection north east to the existing Gardiners Creek through Ashwood (Monash) and Burwood (Whitehorse).

From the east side of Warrigal Road we  are asking for a link to the trail that exists and can be developed along the railway line through Mt Waverley to Glen Waverley station.

When these connections are made, our focus will shift to gaps in the upstream section of the Gardiners Creek Trail and connections to destinations such as Laburnum Station.

We support the efforts by Boroondara to upgrade the existing sections of trail as it is carrying a substantial load.

We call on Stonnington to upgrade the sections that are within their boundaries.