Knox City Council has taken part in two TravelSmart Projects at the Talaskia Road Precinct in Upper Ferntree Gully and the Knox Central Precinct in Wantirna South.  There have also been two Local Area Access Programs (LAAP) at Bayswater Train Station and the Knox Central Precinct.

Improving Walkability in Knox Central

The LAAP grant for Knox Central (funded by the Dept of Transport) was used to help improve walking and cycling access around Knox City Shopping Centre. As part of this grant, Knox Council worked with AMP and the shopping centre management to improve access from the northern side of the shopping centre.

The first project was a new pedestrian crossing through the shopping centre carpark to provide safer access to Gateshead Drive Reserve and the Blind Creek Trail.

- Walkway to Knox Shopping centre - before - Improved walkway to Knox Shopping centre
Before After

 

Another access point was targeted, where there was an existing ‘goat track’ that led down from the Blind Creek Trail into the shopping centre carpark. 

 

- Knox trail into shopping centre car park - before - Knox trail into shopping centre car park - after
Before After
- No walkway in car park - New footpath in car park
Before After

 

Along with these changes, Knox Council is improving the wayfinding in the area, providing finger signs to key destinations and large map signs at the Bus Interchange and Swinburne Wantirna Campus. Knox Council also developed a local access map, ‘Knox Central-by Foot, by Pedal’, that identifies key walking and cycling routes in the area. This map was letter dropped in June 2010 to 15,000 local residents in the surrounding area.

For more information about these projects, please visit the Knox Council website at: www.knox.vic.gov.au/travelsmart