Let our Creeks run free; and let them be our highways

A couple of days ago I went for a walk beside something that used to be a creek. It’s now just grass, overgrown, muddy and probably boggy. The creek is still there, it’s now just in an underground pipe.

You would think that this destruction happened way back when, at a time when humanity was still trying to conquer nature, but it was only about 40 years ago. And it’s not too late to rectify this crime. A lot of creeks have been returned to their above ground status, of course not exactly as they were, but in a kind of idealised state of nature; nature shaped by humanity. But it’s better than a useless underground ‘creek’.

So as I walked I imagined what could be. Aside from returning the creek to the surface (that is, making the creek a creek again) we have so many opportunities to make use of these pathways along creeks, mostly as kinds of bike highways.

Yes, this is another story about infrastructure possibilities.

Creeks, Paths and Community

This state election has been fought on two issues; health and infrastructure. But, very specific infrastructure: the Suburban Rail Loop. Sure, there have of course been other, smaller, announcements, and the Rail Loop is essential infrastructure, but there has been a lot lacking in terms of medium size announcements; stuff that isn’t essential but that does change the way this city and state looks and feels.

The resurfacing of creeks is one of those things.

But this can just be part of a wider transformation of our waterways. Here’s the thing, once creeks are returned to a state that at least resembles nature, people are immediately drawn to them. They become places of pilgrimage, as water sources have always been to humanity.

They give the community a place to congregate.

Giving suburbs more places like this immediately changes the nature of those suburbs, and increases the liveability of them. Right now after any kind of rain these remnant creeks become mudlands, places where it is unwise and uncomfortable to walk, even with concrete and bitumen paths in place.

Once you give the water somewhere to run this problem is immediately lessened.

But since creeks attract people, paths and walkways must be upgraded to cater for the increase in traffic. And this presents opportunities for councils and Governments with some imagination.

The Connections of Creeks

To get into a specific example of what I’m talking about here, there are four main tributaries of the Dandenong Creek in the Eastern Suburbs. These are the Blind Creek, Ferny/Corhanwarrabul Creek, the Tarralla Creek and the Bungalook Creek. All four have bike paths along them, although the Bungalook bike path in reality only consists of a short section of track.

Bike Paths along Creeks in the City of Knox shown in Black, with the Ringwood - Belgrave Rail Trail shown in Orange

Interestingly, sections of the Dandenong Creek in Bayswater and the Tarralla Creek in Croydon have recently been rehabilitated from being underground, and have had their bike infrastructure improved as well.

The Dandenong Creek itself has a major bike path as well, theoretically connecting Bayswater and Kilsyth with Mulgrave and Dandenong. The majority of this path is standalone, although there are small sections that are on road.

The problem with these paths is that they don’t connect to each other. The Dandenong Creek Trail has the potential to be a major north/south connection in the Eastern Suburbs, with other, major, paths connecting to it. The tracks along the creeks provide the perfect place for these bike roads. They have many advantages over other bike paths and bike lanes: they provide surprisingly direct connection, without too much meandering, being in a creek valley the paths are also quite flat, giving it a major advantage over roads (although the Dandenong Creek trail does have some very hilly areas in certain sections), and there are no traffic lights and no traffic to contend with.

To get these tracks up to scratch would not require much investment at all; the Dandenong Creek Trail only needs to be widened slightly to allow for cyclists to overtake walkers and other cyclists much more easily than they can now for instance. This would also allow for cyclists to achieve higher speeds, further increasing the attractiveness of these paths. The major advantage of using routes along these creeks is that they do not require the Government to acquire any private land.

The other tracks simply need to be extended to connect to this new bike highway. For both the Blind Creek Trail and the Tarralla Trail, this would only involve a few hundred metres of extra track - a simple, easy investment.

Why this matters

We must normalise a city that don’t run on car traffic. Everything I’ve written on infrastructure has been based on that ideal. This idea is simply another way of achieving that.

Creeks could be the lifeblood of communities, not the glorified drains that many are now. By combining creeks with transport options we can, with comparatively little investment, create new ways for our city to grow in a healthy way.

This election campaign has been very light on for actual state-changing ideas. But with very little money, the Government could quite easily come up with small to medium scale ideas that would completely change how this city and state looks.

All it takes is a little creativity and imagination.

Make this place somewhere that is it nice to live. Give us water and give us connection