vic roads reviews speed limits

I have long campaigned for lower speed limits through our towns (see blog).

It is an issue that is constantly being raised as an issue, particularly in Selby, Belgrave South and Tecoma.

Council has long advocated to get a 50kph zone through these towns to make it safer for pedestrians as well as road users.

The current review being undertaken by VicRoads is a great opportunity for you to tell VicRoads what you think the speed limits in our town centres should be.

In the past the VicRoads criteria to allow 50kph zones has been woefully inadequate when applied in the Dandenong Ranges as many of our towns do not have 200mt of retail development on both sides of the road but are clearly in need of lower speed limits.

The scope of the VicRoads review will investigate:
~ routes with large numbers of speed zone changes
~ opportunities to reduce the number of speed limit changes
~ school speed zones
~ strip shopping centre times
~ speed limits in town centres
~ use and application of advisory speed limits
~ minimum length of speed zones
~ consistency of speed limits under similar conditions

Submissions to VicRoads are open till Tuesday 11 October, 2011 can be emailed to speedreview@roads.vic.gov.au or posted to:
VicRoads Speed Limit Review
60 Denmark Street
Kew VIC 3101

wellington road works stopped, $’s put to rural roads

Report from the roundtable – 8 feb

Readers will recall the angst over planned construction of overtaking lanes on Wellington Rd (click here for the news story).

After considerable consultation about the project, Vic Roads are not progressing the works due to significant community opposition, safety concerns and significant vegetation removal. I was pleased to be able to move a motion to reallocate funding initially received for Wellington Road to a number of rural roads throughout the municipality.

Council initially received $8million for the project, some of which was spent on duplication works in the Cardinia Shire. The original funding came about as a result of a dubious survey of questionable validity by the then federal local member some time ago (from memory around 2005) which simply asked Latrobe residents if they ‘d like money spent on Wellington Road or the perennial favourite at the time, the Belgrave Bypass.

The consultation process around the Wellington Road overtake lanes project unearthed some enormous safety concerns with residents highlighting the difficulty and danger in negotiating an even greater number of lanes of traffic in an 80kph zone. The project would have also had an enormous impact on vegetation, with the removal of trees and understorey in an area renowned for orchids and other important vegetation.

After reviewing the project Vic Roads made a sensible decision to halt the project. What that meant to the Shire was an allocation of federal funding to the tune of $5.5million in limbo. Officers were quick to contact the Federal Government to see if that money could be allocated to other roads in the shire.

Yarra Ranges Council was fortunate, the Federal Government were happy for us to use the money to target unsealed roads that support our rural industries.

It is a tremendous windfall gain for the Shire, an opportunity that happens rarely, that will allow us to seal various roads that support our rural industries, which will be of great benefit to those industries.

As part of the reallocation of funds I wanted to highlight the concerns raised by residents about turning left on to the various local side streets off Wellington Road, so ensured that council included as part of its motion a letter to VicRoads highlighting the safety and access issues and asking VicRoads to investigate improvements for residents.

Cr McRae highlighted some concerns about some roads not being included on the list and the order of roads on the list as well as the robustness of the shire’s assessment of rural roads and indicated she would not be supporting the motion.
Cr Templer highlighted that his constituency had asked him why there were no roads from O’Shannassy on the listing.

In closing I recognised that not every rural road supporting rural industries in the Shire could be sealed for $5.5million dollars and officers were constrained by short timelines and ease of construction. In my reply to Cr Templer I indicated that this matter first came before council on the 7th December 2010 and Cr Templer had ample opportunity to raise issues but he chose not to. I also recognised that Cr McRae had been trying to seek resolution around the Ryrie Ward roads for some time and had been clearly advocating for her community.

The vote was 8 councillors for and one against, with Cr McRae dissenting.

70kph too soon

I have long been an advocate for 50kph speed zones throughout our townships and was delighted when Kallista finally got approval for a 50kph speed zone through the township (see blog).

This 70kph sign needs to be another 100 metres down the road. Monbulk Road is extremely busy, this photo was taken at midday and is typical of the traffic on the road. Increasing the 50kph zone past Grant's Picnic Ground would be much safer for motorists and pedestrians.

When the signage was erected throughout Kallista I was quite perplexed about the placement of a 70kph sign on the Kallista side of the Grant’s Picnic Ground access way. It would seem to me much safer to put the sign on the Belgrave side of the access way. Given the amount of traffic on Monbulk Road and the amount of traffic turning into Grant’s Picnic Ground it would be much safer for this part of Monbulk Road to be included in Kallista’s 50kph zone.

A number of residents have also raised this issue with me. Clearly a community concern, I had the shire traffic engineers write to the Regional Director of Vic Roads calling for a relocation of the signage.

I hope the response from Vic Roads is positive. Shifting the signage towards Belgrave would be a huge safety improvement for traffic along Monbulk Road and also for pedestrians crossing from Grant’s Picnic Ground to Sherbrooke Forest.

Too often the Shire receives a no from Vic Roads, particularly for our ongoing requests for 50kph zones. I will soon be taking up the matter of 50kph zones again, too long have the Yarra Ranges townships of Belgrave South, Coldstream, Montrose, Millgrove, Mt Dandenong, Selby, Tecoma, Wandin North, Wesburn, Woori Yallock and Yarra Glen been waiting for long overdue safety improvements and speed limit reductions.

50kph for kallista

Pedestrians in Kallista should find it a little easier to negotiate crossing Monbulk Road with the new 50kph zone now in place. For some time I have lobbied VicRoads for changes to speed zones throughout our townships. It has been quite a struggle but well worth the effort.

It's great news that Kallista’s new speed limits have been approved, however there are still other towns in my ward who would like lower speed limits. I will continue to advocate for lower speed limits in Selby, Belgrave South and Tecoma as I did with Kallista. This issue is raised with me time and time again.

Many of our townships have small rural roads and challenging sight lines, others an enormous amount of through traffic. We need to make our townships more accessible to pedestrians, our community shouldn’t have to run the gauntlet every time they want to cross a road.

report from the roundtable – 27 Jan

Report from the Roundtable is a regular blog entry where I report back events from council meetings. There were the usual planning applications but one was quite significant as it proposed the removal of a feature tree in the Shire.

The application, from Vic Roads, was to remove a tree so traffic lights can be installed at the intersection of the Melba and Maroondah Highways in Coldstream. The tree proposed to be removed was a magnificent gum tree, a Southern Mahogany 23 metres high.

Initially a motion was moved to support the removal of the tree however the vote was locked at 4 for, 4 against, forcing the Deputy Mayor (who was chairing the meeting) to use her casting vote which saw the motion lost.

I then moved a motion to refuse the application to remove the tree.
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Those councillors who initially supported its removal came up with a full range of emotive arguments as to why the tree should go:
The safety of people is at risk
One tree isn’t more important than safety
In two weeks time we don’t want to have to answer why more people have been injured or killed
The tree is a traffic obstacle and it shouldn’t be left behind.

At no time has Vic Roads ever considered the tree to be a risk to traffic, the issue of whether the tree has posed a risk to drivers has never been in question. Emotive arguments fail the test of logic. The tree was required to be removed to construct a second lane on the Maroondah Highway, I believe this is an unnecessary construction and there are many other engineering solutions possible to ensure the safety of drivers.

This tree is not any old tree, it is a landmark in a significant gateway to the Yarra Valley, it is a tree that says to all visitors who pass it ‘you’re in the Yarra Ranges now where we value our vegetation’. There is no doubt it is a feature tree and visually significant. There must be a time where we look at other ways to achieve safety on our roads, mowing down trees next to roadsides is not the only answer,
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slower speed limits, better engineering solutions are answers and must be explored.

Vic Roads already have an alternate engineering solution to widen the southern side of Maroondah Highway, it is a design that is a win win, that achieves a good outcome without removing a very significant tree from our landscape.

The motion to refuse the application was carried, 4 for and 4 against, once again as the vote was locked the Deputy Mayor had to exercise her casting vote to see the motion supported.

Councillors for the motion:
Cr Samantha Dunn, Cr Noel Cliff, Cr Jeanette McRae and Cr Terry Avery

Councillors against the motion:
Cr Tim Heenan, Cr Graham Warren, Cr Richard Higgins and Cr Chris Templer

Absent: Cr Len Cox
articled

safety for selby?

The issue of pedestrian safety in Selby has come up again after the matter was raised by a local community advocate.

In late 2007 $69,000 grey spot funding was provided for Vic Roads to build a concrete median and splitter island. This was to improve road safety.

The completed works on the Belgrave Gembrook Road on the Eastern side of Selby.

I am told the works are now complete and there is no sign of splitter islands, all we have is some road widening with additional line marking.

Back in December 2007 it was with great delight I received the news about funding for Selby via a media release from James Merlino, Member for Monbulk.

The realisation that this is not happening is a bitter disappointment to me and to the community of Selby.

This photo was taken at 11:24am today, during school holidays, a relatively quiet time on the roads locally and there's still plenty of traffic about.

I fail to understand how some additional lines on the road make it safer for people to cross the road.

I fail to understand how some additional lines on the road will slow down traffic.

I fail to understand how some additional lines on the road have improved any of the intersections in Selby.

The traffic is not slowing, the pedestrians are still risking life and limb to cross the road, and there have been no improvements for the community of Selby.

This issue is not going to go away. Our community is very concerned about the safety of pedestrians and the speed of vehicles through the township. The continued reluctance by Vic Roads to change the speed limit to 50kph in Selby adds to their frustration and concern.

There are many facilities residents have to cross the road for, the Pre School, the General Store, Selby Park, the Community House, the Primary School, the very busy GP clinic, the Mechanics, the Church, the Tennis Courts, the bus stops just to name a few.

Safety of pedestrians is an issue that is continually raised with me and I will continue to advocate for improvements not only for Selby but for townships throughout the Shire.

selby's greyspot funding gettting whiter

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A sleepy Sunday in Selby?
This photo was taken today at midday.
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It is very unfortunate that the proposed roadworks to improve safety for pedestrians in the township of Selby have been scaled down. The initial plan included the construction of three traffic islands. This would enable safer crossing of Belgrave Gembrook Road and also have the effect of slowing traffic down.
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I now find that there will only be one traffic island at the Eastern end of town with line marking instead of traffic islands for the rest of the town. The change has been driven by difficult topography and loss of parking spaces, further compounded by a limited budget from VicRoads to fund the works.
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This makes it even more imperative that Minister Pallas heeds our request for 50kph zones to be applied throughout Yarra Ranges townships. A letter requesting the change to speed limits was sent on 22nd April, I do hope the Minister is giving it high priority, we don't want someone to be injured or even worse, killed in the mean time.
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My challenge is still on the table, I'd like to see someone from VicRoads cross the road safely with kids in tow.
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When will we see this signage throughout our townships in Yarra Ranges?