Pedestrian safety on Footscray’s widened Hopkins Street bridge is being questioned.
The road bridge over the railway lines was widened this year to enable construction of new Regional Rail Link tracks underneath.
But resident Scott Adams said vertical kerbs on the bridge had been replaced with a semi-mountable kerb, making it easier for vehicles to cross on to the pedestrian footpath.
He said the adjacent lane carried a high volume of buses, semi-trailers and B-doubles, with about 2500 trucks accessing nearby Moore Street each day.
“I honestly don’t know why they would have a ‘roll-over’ kerb in this environment,” he said. “I recently witnessed a truck going over the bridge at high speed, run a red light and narrowly miss a mother and her son in a pusher.”
The Weekly has observed multiple tyre marks on the kerb.
Mr Adams said with thousands of new residents flagged for the redeveloped Joseph Road precinct, it was unacceptable that a safer link with the centre of Footscray had not been created.
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He also questioned the decision to widen the bridge without including dedicated bike lanes.
“It is disappointing that the new bridge is basically designed for trucks and not people,” he said. “This is the gateway to Footscray; it’s a bit sad that the gateway to Footscray is a truck route.”
Mr Adams said he had raised the matter with VicRoads but received no response.
VicRoads directed the Weekly’s questions to the Regional Rail Link: Footscray – Deer Park project authority. A project spokeswoman said pedestrian signals at the intersection of Hopkins and Moore streets had been improved, boosting safety for pedestrians and road users.
“The modified sloped [or ‘semi-mountable’] kerb was selected for practical reasons and to maximise safety for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists,” she said.
The spokeswoman acknowledged Hopkins Street was part of the Principal Bicycle Network but said dedicated cycling lanes were not created as they weren’t already in place.
“The purpose of Regional Rail Link works on Hopkins Street is to extend the bridge to allow additional tracks to be constructed underneath,” she said.
“The bridge design meets VicRoads’ specifications, and VicRoads reviewed and approved the bridge design before construction began.”
