Council agrees to safe childrens crossings on Hill Street

Thanks to the efforts and persistence of the West Hobart community - the schools, businesses, residents, parents – with counting traffic, circulating petitions and writing letters, keeping on putting forward the issues to the City of Hobart, we have some positive progress to report!

Council this Monday passed the following motion UNANIMOUSLY, with additional points added that Council also lobby the State Government for a 40 km/h speed limit right along Hill Street and that the needs of bike riders be included in the design (i.e. Attachment A mentioned below) of traffic calming interventions.

The motion:  

1.    Community engagement be undertaken based on the concept design marked as Attachment A to item 6.3 of the Open City InfrastructureCommittee agenda of 29 March 2017.

2.    The General Manager work with the schools and interested businesses to lobby the Transport Commissioner for the provision of adult crossing guards at the Hill Street / Lansdowne Crescent / Patrick Street and the Hill Street / Lansdowne Crescent / Pine Street intersections.

3.    Further investigation, including advice from the Transport Commissioner be undertaken to install improved pedestrian crossings at the Hill Street / Lansdowne Crescent / Patrick Street and Hill Street / Lansdowne Crescent / Pine Street intersections taking into consideration sight distance, bus turning and property constraints and in accordance with the Australian Standard.

Options to be investigated include:

(ii)     Wombat crossings at the above roundabouts; and/or

(ii)     Replacing the Hill Street / Lansdowne Crescent / Patrick Street roundabout with traffic signals.

4.    A further report be provided, detailing the results of the community engagement and recommending a design to be implemented in Hill Street, incorporating consideration of the consultation and the feedback from MRCagney and Victoria Walks.

5.    A further report be provided to the Council’s Community, Culture and Events Committee in relation to a possible event and community art project for West Hobart.

6.    The line markings at the Hill Street roundabouts be painted as a matter of urgency.

These decisions by our elected Aldermen send a clear message to staff on the direction that the community and Council wants to go.

Our work is not over!

We will have to remain vigilant and active to ensure that the children's crossing guards be approved by the State Government and implemented as soon as possible.

Also we will need as many residents as possible to get involved when the public consultation on the design of the "improved crossing points" on Hill Street is opened up.   WHEN and Bicycle Network Tasmania will be taking a close look and will be supporting treatments which provide maximum safety for both pedestrians and bike riders.

For example, a crossing like this provides space for riders to get through the "pinchpoint".