Goya Dmytryshchak
Seaholme residents are protesting council plans to make their streets one-way, saying claims that their streets are too narrow for two-way traffic are unjustified.
A petition signed by 93 residents is calling on Hobsons Bay council to abandon its proposal to make Acacia Avenue and Central Avenue one-way.
The changes are part of the council’s revised plans “to address traffic and parking concerns around Seaholme station.“
The council also plans to implement two-hour parking on the northern side of Central Avenue weekdays from 9am-5pm and mark out 46 on-street parking spaces.
It has dropped plans to make Waratah Street and Wattle Grove one-way but says Acacia and Central avenues must become one-way “because the Victorian Road Safety Regulations require three metres of clear space for a car to safely use a road“.
“The streets in this section of Seaholme do not currently meet these requirements and therefore do not safely accommodate two-way travel for cars and parking on both sides of the street,“ council documents state.
“Council appreciates that the one-way traffic will increase local travel times by a few minutes and will require residents on the right-hand (east) side of Acacia Avenue to place their bins on the other side of the road for collection.“
Acacia Avenue resident of 25 years, David Appleby said he had measured the width of surrounding streets.
He said, Acacia Avenue is 7050 millimetres (7.05 metres) wide, Seaholme Avenue is 7050 millimetres, Wattle Grove is 7000 millimetres, Waratah Street is 7070 millimetres and Parkside Crescent is 7030 millimetres.
“I don’t know why they’re singling out us to be a one-way street,“ Mr Appleby said.
“They want to funnel all of the traffic … one-way into Acacia Avenue and back onto Civic Parade. It just doesn’t make sense.“
Lead petitioner Andrea Dunkin said residents opposed the changes.
“By placing the cars on the left (west) side of the street, it means that there’s not going to be enough parking spaces and we will have to place our bins next to these parked cars,“ she said.
“It also means our elderly residents and children on the right (east) side of Acacia Avenue would have to cross the road to put the bins out which would be dangerous with a significant increase in traffic.
“The Central Avenue residents are also very distraught and strongly oppose the proposal due to the increase in traffic, and some commented that they can’t even reverse their boats out at the moment, let alone if they had cars parked in front of them.“
As reported by Star Weekly in March, some commuters were angered the changes meant no all-day parking north of the station and could deter people from catching the train.
