The Djerring Trail disappears at Oakleigh Station. So I fixed that.

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The Djerring Trail disappears at Oakleigh Station. So I fixed that.<br>An extremely unofficial solution to a very obvious wayfinding problem.

Hayden Lavigne<br>Jun 14, 2026

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The Djerring Trail is one of the best things to come out of the Level Crossing Removal Project: an off-road shared path running from Caulfield to Dandenong.<br>Except it has one problem. At Oakleigh Station, the trail mysteriously disappears.<br>If you are heading towards Dandenong, you could reasonably assume that the path continues when you veer to the right.

Unfortunately, that path ends a few hundred metres later. To remain on the Djerring Trail, you actually need to descend into the station underpass, come back up on the other side, follow a short path through the station precinct, travel through the car park and eventually rejoin the trail.<br>Simple!<br>Once you have completed this little initiation ceremony, the experience is annoying enough that you probably will not forget the route next time. Or if your passing by in-between regular station re-painting, you might find some community wayfinding written on the wall.

But is that really the best we can do on what is meant to be a ‘continuous’ shared-use path?<br>I don’t think so.<br>There are other signs (literally) that wayfinding around Oakleigh Station is not exactly subject to regular review. At the bus interchange, a floor decal is still helpfully informing passengers about additional buses running over the 2023–24 Christmas period.

Christmas has passed several times. The sticker, however, remains committed to the bit.<br>The official option

Naturally, you might think the appropriate response would be to contact the local council or the Department of Transport and Planning.<br>Sure, I could do that.<br>Council would quite reasonably explain that the station and car park are controlled by DTP, so there is little they can do. DTP would tell me that it will “consider” the suggestion, which generally means nothing will happen, before listing several unrelated improvements it made at some point to demonstrate that it does occasionally do things.<br>Of the dozen or so suggestions I have previously sent to DTP, I cannot think of one that has actually been actioned.<br>So what is a boy to do?<br>Take matters into his own hands, obviously.<br>Designing the signs

I started by identifying the moments where someone unfamiliar with the route would need information.

There are two particularly important locations: an earlier point where riders and pedestrians could be warned that the route was about to change, and the actual decision point where the paths split.<br>I then began setting out the signs in Illustrator, following the PTV master style guide, of course.

The approach is simple: provide an advance warning before the turn off, then another sign at the decision point confirming exactly where to go.<br>This is something I rarely see implemented well on trails. Directional information is often only provided at the moment you need to turn - if it is provided at all. Personally, I prefer a little reassurance that I am still heading in the right direction.<br>That is how navigation apps work when you are driving: first they tell you that a turn is approaching, then they tell you when to make it. There is no reason walking and cycling routes should provide less useful information.<br>Good wayfinding is not just about pointing in the correct direction. It is about giving people the confidence that they have not accidentally left the route.

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An extremely unofficial installation

Once the designs were finalised, I sent them to be printed on vinyl. The signs are R12 slip-resistant, in case you were curious, because even my unauthorised civic interventions have standards.<br>I cut them out, took them to Oakleigh and installed them at the relevant decision points.

Applying vinyl signage is straightforward: align the top edge, gradually remove the backing and smooth the sign onto the surface. It’s also very cost effective (hint hint).<br>Voilà. Wayfinding.

Now, I’m not saying these are amazing or a perfect solution. As you can imagine I was a little constrained in where and how I could install them, so compromises were made - namely that a lot of it is quite small.<br>Regardless, the finished signs direct people towards Caulfield or Dandenong, explain when the route travels via the station underpass or car park, and help connect the trail with the station platforms.<br>They are also labelled:<br>“Unauthorised wayfinding by @HighCapacityHayden”

This is obviously not the approved method for delivering soft transport infrastructure. But it is temporary, clearly unofficial and, most importantly, useful.<br>I have been asked for directions around this exact part of Oakleigh Station several times. Perhaps now there will be a few fewer confused people wondering where one of Melbourne’s major shared trails has gone.<br>A small sign of a larger...