Your Street Your Say Group C Consultation Open
Your Street, Your Say Group C now open to December 20th
Share your feedback and ideas about walking, cycling, scooting, driving and playing in Darebin - click on the link below and then click on the interactive map marking the spots for improvement. We suggest that you highlight intersections or places where a modal filter might help to manage aggressive traffic and mark-up pedestrian crossing points that need attention.
Group C covers Northcote West, Reservoir East and Preston East areas.
Streets Alive Darebin: Submission to Your Street Your Say Group C consultation (December 2024)
In response to the Your Street Your Say Group C consultation
Key themes
Accessible tram stops - Tyler Street Tram Stop Route 86. Given the Victorian Government’s commitment to designing new Route 86 accessible Tram Stops in Northcote and Thornbury - there is the opportunity to seek a further commitment to continuing these upgrades along Route 86 to encompass the reinstatement of the Tyler Street accessible Tram Stop. Separate bike lanes could be incorporated into the tram stop design and provide a safety buffer between parked cars and bicycle lane users, preventing cyclist deaths from dangerous "dooring" crashes.
Leveraging funding from the Victorian Government
Darebin Council can’t expect the Victorian Government to invest in active transport if it does not have a program of investment in key cycling routes itself. By abandoning its Streets for People plan that identified 8 designated sustainable transport corridors that traverse the municipality and its grid network (2 north-south aligned corridors and 6 aligned east-west corridors) and approaching this issue through the fragmented geographic approach characterised by the phasing of the Your Street Your Say areas Council is unable to offer any strategic investment plan or advocacy vision to Victorian Government.
How is Darebin intending to effectively advocate to the Victorian Government if it has no strategic corridor commitment in this space in order to leverage State action and/or funding? We note that the following streets are listed as key routes in the Strategic Cycling Corridor (SCC) that are included in Group C:
● Westgarth Street/ South Crescent
● Cramer/Gower Street
● Edwardes/ Broadway
What are Council’s plans to upgrade these routes to ensure safer cycling infrastructure?
Wider footpaths: How will footpaths be considered in this consultation? What alignment will there be with footpath upgrades and opportunities for re-planting?
Street trees provide shade, increase biodiversity and reduce on-street temperatures on hot days. What is the budget allocation for footpath upgrades and streetscaping that align with the Your Street Your Say Groups?
Intersection safety: Intersections across Group C urgently need safety upgrades to prevent crashes and pedestrian deaths. How is Council prioritising spending on pedestrian crossings? – what are the worst intersections in Group C? and how is Council addressing safety at these? Council needs to be working with DTP to improve pedestrian safety – particular at intersections and crossing point near schools and shops.
Specific comments on Your Street Your Say Group C
1. Northcote West: Rat running along the bike shimmy along the trainline. During morning & evening peak there is a lot of traffic along the western side of the railway line - Park St & Hartington St. Vehicles are racing to beat traffic on High St or St George’s Rd, and they also flow up into Latham St & Railway Pde north of Separation, which is outside the study area. We suggest either/or a modal filter at Park St & Westbourne Grove and/or right-turn bans.
2. St Georges Rd bike path - close the crossovers for the safety of path users.
3. Give right of way to cyclists & pedestrians across Merri Pde near Rucker St where the bike path ends
4. Merri Pde traffic frequently causes bus delays for route 506. What are the options to support public transport?
5. Make cyclists exempt from one-way traffic interventions around Northcote primary school, especially Hawthorn Rd. Make it easier for people to ride from the shimmy to the shops without having to use Arthurton Rd. (Or put in a separated bike lane on High St so people feel safer riding along High St).
6. Westgarth Street requires a separated Bike Lane - as only the most bold of cyclists would rise along this Strategic Cycling Corridor.
Preston East
7. Tyler Street Tram Stop - reinstate
8. Cramer/Gower Street - Cramer/Gower Street is a Strategic Cycling Corridor and one of the few safer East-West cycling routes in Preston. It is a key corridor linking the Merri Creek bike path, St George’s Rd bike path, Preston rail corridor bike path, and the Darebin Creek bike path. This route needs adequate separated cycling infrastructure to support this, so that parents can safely escort their children to childcare, kindergarten or school and so that students at Preston High School have a safe route to school.
9. Gower Street - The 40km/hr signs are ignored. This road needs to be redesigned to encourage slower speeds. This is especially the case outside Preston High School, which should have a school zone and pedestrian crossings. How is Council working with the High School to support active travel?
10. 86 Tram Stops - Tram stops along Plenty Rd in Preston should be accessible. Council should advocate to the Victorian Government for the full length of the 86 tram line to be accessible beyond the initial designs for the tram stops in Northcote/Thornbury.
Reservoir East
11. Tyler street is another East-West corridor that links several North-South bike paths and needs separated cycling infrastructure along its length. This is especially true in the North East Preston/East Reservoir area as there are several Schools and Kinders in this section. Traffic calming measures and a separated bike lane to protect both cyclists and pedestrians is needed.
12. Better active transport links are needed to Reservoir East Primary School as the parking and traffic around the school limits neighbourhood amenity for residents and more car traffic around a school promotes further car use.
Restricting turns into Yarra Avenue and a crossing light across Bolderwood Parade is needed here.
13. Darebin Creek Bike Path at Plenty Rd- The bike path crossing for Plenty Rd is not continuous and forces cyclists to ride on the footpath in order to cross the creek. This path crossing needs an upgrade.
14. Albert Street - Further pedestrian crossings are needed across Albert Street between Plenty Road and Tyler Street. The lack of signalised crossings severely disconnects these neighbourhoods and forces pedestrians to walk nearly 1km in order to cross.
We would be happy to discuss any aspect of our submission with Council officers and look forward to hearing from Council on what the next steps will be to action these requests.
Streets Alive Darebin