Thursday, 7 April 2022

Northern Metropolitan Region

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (12:50): (1753) My constituency question is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety and relates to the Bell Street bridge in Coburg. Local residents have welcomed recently announced traffic-calming treatments at this location but remain concerned about pedestrian safety. Their concerns include: footpaths that in some places are narrower than 1 metre in width, contrary to Australian safety standards; no separation between the bridge footpath and traffic; and slope guttering that makes the kerb easy for cars to mount. Slip lanes at both ends of the bridge are extremely dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists, and unfortunately the slip lane at Bell Street and Elizabeth Street was the site of a Coburg High School student being hit by a car last year. With these issues in mind, my constituents ask: will the minister facilitate an urgent full technical review of these identified risks?