VicRoads roadworks at Willaimsons Road and Foote Street scare locals.

A neighbour mentioned that she now feels scared when exiting from Hawtin Street onto Foote Street. A couple of days ago I exited Hawtin Street and moved into the median street on Foote Street to turn right. This is something I’ve done for years and there was always room for two cars to exit Hawtin Street, pause in the median strip and then turn right into Foote Street.

Now with the changes to the road, it will be nearly impossible for locals to exit Hawtin Street and turn right into Foote Street. The median strip has been reduced significantly in width so it is no longer possible to move into the median strip. You now have to wait until the traffic is clear and move directly from Hawtin Street, crossing six or seven lanes. A very dangerous situation created by VicRoads to allow for a bus lane.

The problem is road changes are being made for buses in the area which cater for 15% of the local population (according to Manningham council) at the detriment of 85% of locals. Not only has it made it more dangerous for drivers, but the bicycle lane has been moved quite a distance east. The two east bound lanes in Foote Street are now significantly narrower and it would be hard for two cars to pass a cyclist. Luckily the bike lanes aren’t well used because if they were, that section of the road is now very dangerous cyclists.

The problems are even further exacerbated with parents using Hawtin Street in the morning and afternoon to drop off and pick up children at Templestowe Park Primary School. Of a night travellers heading north use Hawtin Street to bypass the traffic in Williamsons Road. The local-traffic-only signs have been removed and replaced with expensive and ineffective speed humps.  A continual flow of traffic from Williamsons Road with the slip lane turning left into Foote Street, and the right-turn priority arrow cars turning right into Foote Street, means there is a very small window of opportunity to exit Hawtin Street. Now trying to use that small window of opportunity and then get across two lanes, plus up to five lanes, to get into the left hand lane to go to Doncaster Shoppingtown, it will nearly be impossible.

This was all done so the bus could get a slight advantage, which in peak-hour traffic will see them join the end of the traffic shortly after turning right.

One option I have is to turn left out of Hawtin Street, drive up the hill and then do a U-turn near the crest of a hill where it is impossible to see the oncoming fast moving traffic. To head north along Hawtin Street (to sit behind the cars trying to avoid Williamsons Road), to exit left into Porter Street (which is often blocked with traffic) and then turn right into Williamson Road to head up to Doncaster Shoppingtown. Whilst possible and for safety reasons probably now desirable, it does add a significant amount of time with the extra delays caused by the traffic.

The main reason for writing this post was to let locals know the median strip has now been reduced so it is no longer possible to move across the first two lanes. I did that and to my surprise the new design has reduced the median strip size and I wasn’t aware of that change. It means a car can no longer use the median strip area.

Kelvin Eldridge
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