| EastLink Trail | |
|---|---|
 The EastLink Trail in southern Koomba Park | |
| Length | Approx 28 km |
| Location | Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Difficulty | Mostly easy |
| Hazards | Road underpasses regularly flood; rough path surface in places |
| Surface | Mainly concrete.[1] |
| Hills | Mostly flat, hilly in the north |
| Train(s) | Ringwood Station, Heatherdale Station, Yarraman Station |
| Tram(s) | None |
The EastLink Trail is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians in the outer eastern/southeastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The trail gets its name from the north-south EastLink tollway, along which it follows for most of its length from Ringwood to Dandenong,[2][3] until it joins the Dandenong Creek Trail near the Dandenong Bypass bridge at the tri-suburban junction between Dandenong, Dandenong South and Keysborough.
Route
The path passes through or near to:[1]
- Mullum Mullum Valley, Ringwood Bypass, Schwerkolt Cottage, and Eastland (Mullum Mullum Creek Trail)
- Simpsons Park / Heatherdale Reserve Proclamation Park
- Koomba Park (briefly combined with Dandenong Creek Trail) and Wantirna Reserve
- Blind Creek / Llewellyn Park Complex and the Blind Creek Trail
- Nortons Park, Shepherds Bush, and Drummies Bridge Reserve
- Jells Park (including trail network) and Chesterfield Farm
- Corhanwarrbul Creek Wetlands, Dandenong Creek and Tirhatuatan Park (briefly rejoining the Dandenong Creek Trail between Wellington Road and EastLink-Dandenong Creek overpass)
- Fotheringham Reserve, Mile Creek, and Greaves Reserve
The trail ends after crossing the Dandenong Creek via a low-water bridge just upstream of the Dandenong Bypass overbridge, where it permanently joins the Dandenong Creek Trail. The Dandenong Creek Trail then follows the creek along the EastLink tollway as far as Bangholme, where it then heads west to the National Watersports Complex, Patterson Lakes, Carrum Foreshore, the Bayside Trail and beyond.[1]
Footbridges cross EastLink at a number of points along the trail, and another takes path users across the Princes Highway.[4]
Two additional footbridges completed construction in 2009: a footbridge over Maroondah Highway and a 60 m footbridge over Burwood Highway at the intersection with Mountain Highway.
Connections
The EastLink Trail connects to numerous other paths: To the Mullum Mullum Creek Trail in the north and close by is the Koonung Creek Trail. Centrally it connects to the Blind Creek Trail just south of High Street and comes close to the Scotchmans Creek Trail. At Ferntree Gully Road it connects to the Ferny Creek Trail. In the south at Dandenong, it connects to the Dandenong Creek Trail.
Two sections of the EastLink Trail utilise sections of the older Dandenong Creek Trail.
North end at 37°48′44″S 145°13′05″E / 37.812129°S 145.218121°E. South end at 38°00′00″S 145°11′39″E / 37.999997°S 145.194264°E.
References
- 1 2 3 "EastLink Trail". ConnectEast. Retrieved 26 June 2008.
- ↑ Melbourne and Geelong's shared paths in Google Maps
- ↑ Melbourne and Geelong's shared paths in Google Earth
- ↑ "About Eastlink". Southern and Eastern Integrated Transport Authority. Archived from the original on 25 June 2008. Retrieved 26 June 2008.
- Bike rides around Melbourne 3rd edition, 2009, Julia Blunden, Open Spaces Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9752333-4-4
External links
Geographic data related to EastLink Trail at OpenStreetMap- Walking and Cycling Trails in Melbourne at Google Maps (see Eastern Melbourne → EastLink Trail)