Telok Blangah Hill Park now linked with Mount Faber, Kent Ridge Park

This nice infographic in yesterday's Sunday Times heralds the linking of the Southern Ridges via two bridges. Rather than letting it disappear in archives, we are reproducing it here. (Click to see it full size.)

The Pasir Panjang Guides are familiar with the eastern section of this walk, from the University Cultural Centre at NUS' Kent Ridge Campus to Reflections at Bukit Chandu in Kent Ridge Park. The unmarked road in NUS on the map is Kent Ridge Road. The short section indicated without any greenery - which is inaccurate as there are rain trees and tembusus - is part of Kent Ridge Crescent, leading to a short section of Clementi Road before turning into Clementi Woods Park.

Looks like it's time to whip out those walking shoes!

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Sunday Times, May 11, 2008

Two new bridges = a 9km scenic walk

Telok Blangah Hill Park now linked with Mount Faber, Kent Ridge Park

By Teo Cheng Wee

Spanning 274m across Henderson Road, the 36m-high wave-shaped Henderson Waves is Singapore's highest pedestrain bridge. The other bridge, Alexandra Arch, is located in Alexandra Road. -- ST PHOTO: ASHLEIGH SIM

The wet morning yesterday did not dampen the excitement of Telok Blangah resident Habib Ismail.

He was among 500 residents who watched Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong officially open two pedestrian bridges - Henderson Waves and Alexandra Arch.

With these bridges, Telok Blangah Hill Park is now linked to Mount Faber on one side and Kent Ridge Park on the other.

An avid walker, Mr Habib, 44, a father of two, joined Mr Lee and the other residents on a tour of the bridges.

The bridges complete a 9km chain of greenery in the Southern Ridges, which consist primarily of three large hill parks - Mount Faber, Telok Blangah Hill Park and Kent Ridge Park.

Henderson Waves, at a height of 36m, is Singapore's highest pedestrian bridge. A wave-shaped, steel-and-timber structure, it spans 274m across Henderson Road. The other bridge, Alexandra Arch, spans 80m across Alexandra Road.

Bridging Ridges

The parks were previously separated by roads and wooded vegetation. Now, one can walk ridge-to-ridge, starting from HarbourFront MRT and ending at West Coast Park.

In 2002, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said it would link up parks in the Southern Ridges as part of the Parks and Waterbodies and Identity Plans.

The project, which took two years to complete, cost $25.5 million.

Apart from the two bridges, the Southern Ridges now also boast the Forest Walk, a 1.3km-long elevated walkway that cuts through secondary forest at Telok Blangah Hill Park; and Marang Trail, which links HarbourFront MRT to Mount Faber.

Mr Lee also officiated the opening of the $13 million Horticulture Park - or HortPark for short.

With 20 theme gardens, HortPark is South-east Asia's first one-stop gardening and lifestyle hub.

The 23ha park, which has been open since December last year, took two years to build and also serves as a park connector between Telok Blangah Hill Park and Kent Ridge Park.

In his speech, Mr Lee noted that such projects 'provide a first-class living environment for all Singaporeans'.

He also announced upcoming plans to link the Southern Ridges to the Keppel Waterfront as part of a broader plan to develop a recreational and leisure hub in the south.

This includes having a park connector from Alexandra Arch to Labrador Park, building a mangrove boardwalk at Berlayer Creek and having a waterfront boardwalk that connects Bukit Chermin to VivoCity, with waterfront views along the entire stretch of Keppel Bay.

Details of these plans will be released soon, the URA said.

About 1 million visitors to the Southern Ridges are expected annually, and with the bridges open 24 hours a day, lovebirds might be expected to make a beeline for them after dark, especially as Henderson Waves offers panoramic views of the city and southern islands.

Mr Habib, a senior research supervisor, had stopped his daily jogs at Telok Blangah Hill Park due to work commitments. He is digging out his sneakers again.

'I'm making plans to walk along the new walk with friends,' he said with a smile.

chengwee@sph.com.sg

First Toddycats! workshop for 2005

Looks like the fish that got away but really just the refresher course for the Pasir Panjang Heritage guides from Toddycats and SAJC Green Club. I ran through the major aspects of history, geography and biology of Pasir Panjang.

There was enough back and forth between us, but in case they were in a stupor, the team was on their hands and knees after to produce a mahjong paper sketch-summary to support a short presentation. So battle lines were drawn, plants and animals depicted in varying degrees of imagination and fact. The show and tell session that targetted either a senior government official or a 10 year old child with a notoriously short attention span went off well even though the new ones were thrust forward to present. Well, I felt encouraged, at any rate!

Their presentation was subjected to some good natured cross-examination and then a short visit to the Ridge before the warm up was complete. The guides will use the Faculty of Science's family day as further warm up for the battle anniversary walk in February and finally really work during Heritage Fest 2005 in July.

I am supposed to leave the project manager and the guides well alone this year, and I have no real reservations. There are already many relatively seasoned hands from last year's Heritage Fest 2004 and the Faculty of Science's 75th anniversary celebration tours.

They might face a challenge getting the family groups from NUS to Bt Chandu in one hour, especially if the imagined 200 participants materialise; but it'll provide a good dynamic situation for them to handle; the more problems the better. And I'll just wait for the debrief.

First posted on Otterman speaks, 23 Jan 2005.

Faculty of Science celebrations

I got roped in to offer something for the NUS Faculty of Science's 75th Anniversary celebrations.

Besides the museum visit on the 4th of September, we will offer the Kent Ridge (or rather Pasir Panjang) Heritage Trail to Science Alumni with the help of Raffles Museum Toddycats and SAJC Green Club members.

First posted on Otterman speaks, 15 Aug 2004.

Kent Ridge Heritage with NUSSU

On 16th October 2003, a friend in NUS Museums emailed me about introducing a group of NUSSU committee members to Kent Ridge's heritage. She had heard of the RMBR Kent Ridge Heritage Walks so asked to meet up.

So at 3om today, I met the NUSSU group at the Raffles Museum, briefed them and then conducted a short walk. The students were from engineering, science, arts and building and real estate. They were good company and the walk was enjoyable as always. We reached reached Bukit Chandu at 6pm, and my legs were aching for once!

I noticed some changes. There are no more works around what I think was Prince Edward Point (= pt. 270) in NUS, but we cannot access the 1939 outpost. A lot flowers were blooming and good examples of a wide diversity seemed laid out in a just a stone's throw.

The sheltered path to Marina Hill has some panels about flora put up by DSO. At Kent Ridge Park, a photo of the southern islands panorama has been setup at the lookout point (pt 225); most of the islands are identified. And the canopy walk is functional. Oi Yee had mentioned as much some weeks ago.

This year, I will be conducting the walk on Saturday, 14 February 2004, in commemoration of the battle of Pasir Panjang Ridge (11 - 14 Feb 1942).

The area was actually only named Kent Ridge on 3rd October 1952 [actually in 1954]. A faded stone that indicated this was overlooked by most. After a similar session with NUS' OED, they helpfully painted the words of the marble inlay in late 2002 or early 2003. You can't miss it now, and that's where I rendezvous at 5.50am for Marina South bike rides, which is how this day began!

First posted at Otterman speaks, 08 Jan 2004.