The EastLink Trail is a

shared use path A shared-use path, mixed-use path or multi-use pathway is a path which is "designed to accommodate the movement of pedestrians and cyclists". Examples of shared-use paths include sidewalks designated as shared-use, bridleways and rail trails. A ...

for

cyclists Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world for pur ...

and

pedestrian A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, by wheelchair or with other mobility aids. Streets and roads often have a designated footpath for pedestrian traffic, called the '' sidewalk'' in North American English, the ''pavement'' in British En ...

s in the outer eastern/southeastern suburbs of

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. The trail gets its name from the north-south EastLink

tollway A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road for which a fee (or '' toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented to help recoup the costs of road construction and mainten ...

, along which it follows for most of its length from Ringwood to

Dandenong Dandenong ( ) is a southeastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, about from the Melbourne CBD. It is the council seat of the City of Greater Dandenong local government area, with a recorded population of 30,127 at the . Situated m ...

, until it joins the

Dandenong Creek Trail The Dandenong Creek Trail is a shared use path for cycling, cyclists and pedestrians, which follows Dandenong Creek through the outer eastern and south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Route The t ...

near the

Dandenong Bypass The Dandenong Bypass is a highway in the state of Victoria, Australia that runs along the Dingley Freeway reservation from Springvale Road in Keysborough to the South Gippsland Highway in Dandenong South. History The Dandenong Bypass was co ...

bridge at the tri-suburban junction between Dandenong,

Dandenong South Dandenong South is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 31 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Greater Dandenong local government area. Dandenong South recorded a population of 125 at t ...

and

Keysborough Keysborough is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, southeast of the Melbourne central business district, located within the City of Greater Dandenong local government area. Keysborough recorded a population of 30,018 at the . Keysborou ...

Route

The path passes through or near to: * Mullum Mullum Valley,

Ringwood Bypass The Ringwood Bypass is a short stretch of road extending from EastLink to Maroondah Highway in Melbourne, Australia. It allows the Maroondah Highway to bypass Eastland Shopping Centre, in the eastern Melbourne suburb of Ringwood. Route The by ...

Schwerkolt Cottage Schwerkolt Cottage is a pioneer cottage built around 1880 at Mitcham, Victoria. This heritage site encompasses the original stone cottage, associated replicated outbuildings and a local history museum, surrounded by 2.25 hectares of gardens and ...

, and Eastland ( Mullum Mullum Creek Trail) * Simpsons Park / Heatherdale Reserve Proclamation Park * Koomba Park (briefly combined with

) and Wantirna Reserve * Blind Creek / Llewellyn Park Complex and the Blind Creek Trail * Nortons Park, Shepherds Bush, and Drummies Bridge Reserve *

Jells Park Jells Park is a public park in Wheelers Hill, a southeastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The park opened on 30 April 1976 and is named after Joseph Jell, a cattle grazier who worked in the area in the mid-late 1800s. The park attr ...

(including trail network) and Chesterfield Farm * Corhanwarrbul Creek Wetlands,

Dandenong Creek The Dandenong Creek (Aboriginal Bunwurrung: ''Narra Narrawong'' or ''Dandinnong'') is an urban creek of the Port Phillip catchment, located in the eastern and south-eastern Greater Melbourne region of the Australian east coast state of Vict ...

and Tirhatuatan Park (briefly rejoining the

between Wellington Road and EastLink-Dandenong Creek overpass) * Fotheringham Reserve, Mile Creek, and Greaves Reserve The trail ends after crossing the

via a low-water bridge just upstream of the

overbridge, where it permanently joins the

. The

then follows the creek along the EastLink tollway as far as

Bangholme Bangholme is a locality in the City of Greater Dandenong, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District. Bangholme recorded a population of 749 at the . Located adjacent to the urban area, the area is semi-rural and ...

, where it then heads west to the National Watersports Complex,

Patterson Lakes Patterson Lakes is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Patterson Lakes recorded a population of 7,793 at the 2021 census. ...

, Carrum Foreshore, the

Bayside Trail Bay Trail or Bayside Trail may refer to: * Bay Trail, Saskatchewan, unincorporate community in Canada * Bay Trail (Australia), a trail in Victoria, Australia * San Francisco Bay Trail, a trail in California, United States * Bay Trail (system on ...

and beyond. Footbridges cross EastLink at a number of points along the trail, and another takes path users across the

Princes Highway Princes Highway is a major road in Australia, extending from Sydney via Melbourne to Adelaide through the states of New South Wales, Victoria (Australia), Victoria and South Australia. It has a length of (along Highway 1) or via the former ...

. Two additional footbridges completed construction in 2009: a footbridge over

Maroondah Highway Maroondah Highway (also known as Whitehorse Road from Deepdene to Surrey Hills) is a major east–west thoroughfare in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and a highway connecting the north-eastern fringes of Melbourne to Mansfield, at the lowe ...

and a 60 m footbridge over

Burwood Highway Burwood Highway (and its western section as Toorak Road) is a major transportation link with Melbourne's eastern fringe at the foot of the Dandenong Ranges, linking the suburbs of Hawthorn and Belgrave. The highway is considered a major lin ...

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 __NOTOC__ The Koonung Creek Trail, also known as the Koonung Trail, is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians, which follows Koonung Creek in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.Blind Creek Trail just south of High Street and comes close to the

Scotchmans Creek Trail __NOTOC__ The Scotchmans Creek Trail is a shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians, which follows Scotchmans Creek through the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It runs from East Malvern railway station through to Jell ...

. At Ferntree Gully Road it connects to the Ferny Creek Trail. In the south at

, it connects to the

. Two sections of the EastLink Trail utilise sections of the older

. North end at . South end at .

References

*''Bike rides around Melbourne'' 3rd edition, 2009, Julia Blunden, Open Spaces Publishing,

External links

*
Walking and Cycling Trails in Melbourne
at Google Maps (see ''Eastern Melbourne → EastLink Trail'') Bike paths in Melbourne {{melbourne-geo-stub