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SINGAPORE: Here’s another one to add to your list of day trips – 22 “life-sized” dinosaur models along the Changi Airport Connector, a new 3.5km path that links the airport to East Coast Park.
The cycling and walking path, which starts at Terminal 2, opened on Sunday (Oct 11). It runs parallel to offices providing ground handling services, Terminal 4 and Tanah Merah Country Club.
The Changi Jurassic Mile – a permanent outdoor display of 22 dinosaurs from nine species – is located between the Terminal 4 pit stop and the entrance to East Coast Park.
Information panels have been put up to educate visitors about these prehistoric animals along the 1km path, and speakers playing safari-themed music add to the experience.
The park connector will make it possible for people working at the airport to cycle to their office, as well as give “a new way of entering the cities” when travel reopens, Changi Airport Group’s managing director for airport operations management Jayson Goh said.
“Hopefully this whole project will help inject a new energy for the Changi Airport experience and continue to strengthen Singapore’s offering as an air hub,” he added.
Information panels describing the “life-sized” dinosaurs on display along the Changi Jurassic Mile. (Photo: Rachel Phua).
The opening of the connector was pushed back “by a couple of months” due to the pandemic.
“We don’t want people to worry about coming down to this place while COVID is still going on,” Mr Goh said.
Transport Minister Ong Ye Kung (middle) at the launch of the Changi Airport Connector. (Photo: Hanidah Amin)
Between Oct 16 and Jan 3, visitors will have to reserve a slot on Changi PlayPass to visit the Jurassic Mile on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays between 9am and midnight due to safe distancing concerns. Capacity has been capped at “a few hundred”, a Changi Airport Group spokesperson said.
Visitors will be admitted every 30 minutes, and are allowed to stay for up to one hour within the exhibit. Bookings are not required for weekday visits.
Next to Terminal 2 is a place called Hub & Spoke, which has a colonial-themed cafe, a bicycle store run by GoCycling and pay-per-use shower facilities.
A cycling shop run by GoCycling offering bicycle rentals and repair services at Hub & Spoke. (Photo: Hanidah Amin)
Visitors who want to cycle from the airport to the park can rent their bicycles from the store and return them at any of GoCycling’s other nine outlets around Singapore, including one at East Coast Park. The shop also sells bicycle equipment and offers bicycle repair services.
Hub & Spoke also provides cyclists with free bicycle parking – there are 80 racks available – and bicycle lockers for S$5 a day, up to 10 days each time.
Koh Zhen Hao, GoCycling’s rental team head, said his company plans to offer guided cycling tours to tourists to East Coast Park and the city once leisure travel resumes.