Maribyrnong cyclists are celebrating a $1.8 million spending package that will improve safety at the area’s most dangerous intersection.
The state government will spend $1.1 million on the installation of traffic signals and bike lanterns at Footscray’s Parker and Whitehall streets, the site of five serious crashes in the past five years.
The intersection is part of the main route for western suburbs cyclists travelling into the city, with more than 300 cyclists crossing the busy truck route every morning peak period.
A further $700,000 will be spent on green bicycle lanes, linemarking and traffic signals where Footscray Road intersects with Pearl River Road and Waterfront
Way.
The spending announcement last week by Roads Minister Terry Mulder follows years of pressure from cyclists, politicians and Maribyrnong council, citing safety concerns about the Whitehall- Parker streets intersection.
The council wrote to VicRoads in June arguing better safety measures would encourage more cyclists and cut down on road congestion.
Greens MP Colleen Hartland said she had been campaigning for two years for the intersection to be fixed as part of her Bike West project.
“It is unfortunate that it’s taken a number of cyclists getting seriously hurt for the government to act.”
Ms Hartland said signals at the Footscray slip-lanes were welcome, but she described these as simply “tinkering on the edges of the real problem” – fixing the bike path across Shepherd Bridge.
Western suburbs Liberal MP Bernie Finn said the improvements were designed to make this intersection safer, “particularly for cyclists who historically have a difficult time cutting through traffic, due to the high volume”.
VicRoads regional director Patricia Liew said work on the 2013-14 bicycle program projects would begin early next year and be completed by mid-2014.
