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Walking in Warragul and Drouin

Walking forums continue across the shire to discuss the findings of the Baw Baw Shire walkability audit conducted earlier this year.

By Baw Baw Shire Council - 28th August 2006 - Back to News

Baw Baw Shire Council is hosting public meetings in Warragul and Drouin in September to discuss report findings about walking around the CBD as well as in other key areas of the town, according to chief executive officer, Glenn Patterson.

"Much work has been done to promote walking trails in Warragul and Drouin," said Mr Patterson.

"But walkability is about making the CBD and towns easy for people to navigate who either have to walk or choose to walk.

"Benefits of walking for both the environment and for general health and wellbeing is widely known, we encourage community members to get involved in these community forums to discuss the recommendations made in the report and prioritise these to present to council," said Mr Patterson.

Key recommendations in the report for Drouin are:

• Extending the 50km/h zone to cover the whole of the functional town centre, including (on Princes Way) the primary school in the west and the community uses in the east of Drouin, all of Sinclair Street and Young Street where it fronts the park, and near the station in the south.
• Remove all inappropriate 60km/h speed limit signs in the 50km/h zone, and install new 50km/h signs where needed (e.g. Young Street)
• Install formal pedestrian crossing facilities in the retail strip. While there are a number of options here (including zebra crossings at the three roundabouts or two mid-block zebra crossings between the roundabouts) the recommendation is for the removal of the middle roundabout and its replacement with a set of traffic lights. The lights should allow pedestrians to have right of way in front of turning traffic and the lights should be "pedestrian responsive" during working hours (7am-7pm) i.e. to respond in less than 30 seconds. The lights will cause gaps in the traffic to enable people to cross safely elsewhere in the retail area, and itself provide a very safe north to south crossing of Princes Way. Access to the station will also be improved
• Upgrade the footpath to the south side station entrance and install a zebra crossing over the street beside the station to give passengers right of way to the station entrance.
• Remove all 60km/h speed limit signs in Lampard Road. Leave the existing 20km/h advisory signs and do not install any others, as even 50km/h is probably too fast for this important pedestrian route
• Remove the 100km/h sign near the cemetery and relocate beyond its entrance
• Install 50km/h default advisory signs on the 3 main roads into Drouin, on the town’s outskirts, - from the freeway, from Warragul and from Korumburra.

Key recommendations for Warragul from the report include:

• Increase the 50km/h area of the CBD to its broader boundaries and put signs on all approach roads. This "broader area" should include all of the retail and civic area, with perhaps a 50m buffer around it, so that drivers will be able to slow to 50km/h by the time they enter the CBD. Remove all inappropriate 60km/h signs within this area.
• Reduce the signed traffic speed of Smith Street to 40km/h from the Smith/Albert roundabout to the War Memorial
• Install zebra crossings on all 4 exits and entrances at both the single lane roundabouts on Smith Street, at Albert and Palmerston Streets, accompanied by appropriate signage – yellow legs, etc
• Install a zebra crossing at the mid block crossing of Smith Street, with yellow legs.
• Install a "median refuge" to facilitate safe pedestrian crossing of Smith Street, midway between Albert and Palmerston Streets.

The full report and recommendations can be downloaded from council’s website at www.bawbawshire.vic.gov.au

Public meetings will be held in both Drouin and Warragul to discuss and prioritise report findings in these towns.

Council will subsequently consider the report’s recommendations and community reaction.

The Drouin meeting will be held at 7.30pm at the Drouin Community Chambers on Tuesday, 5 September.

The Warragul meeting will be held at 7.30pm in the Fountain Room of the West Gippsland Arts Centre on Monday, 11 September.

For more information please contact council’s recreation project officer, Despi O’Connor on 5623 4488.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com

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