Residents win battle for zebra crossing

Residents win battle for zebra crossing

BY MICK ROBERTS

Pedestrian safety at the intersection of Randle and Elizabeth Streets Surry Hills has been improved with the placement of a zebra crossing.
Residents and local businesses have been pushing for improved pedestrian safety around the intersection for some months.
Although the Surry Hills Business Alliance has applauded the City of Sydney Council for listening to community concern, they say the ultimate answer to pedestrian safety near the Evening Star Hotel is traffic lights on the corner of Elizabeth and Randle Streets.
‘We are pleased that finally Council has painted the crossing at Randle Street. However this is a stop gap solution,’ Surry Hills Business Alliance spokesman, Brian Adams said.
Mr Adams told The City News in May that office workers, residents, school children and shoppers risked their lives everyday when crossing the busy intersection.
‘It’s hazardous to cross,’ Mr Adams said at the time. ‘Taxis are a big problem; they ignore pedestrians while turning into Randle Street to go to their ranks at Central Station’ Sydney Buses, driving too fast, use Randle Street to pick up passengers when trains don’t run due to track work, particularly on weekends.’
Mr Adams said pedestrians were crossing to the other side of the road and retailers were losing business from passing foot traffic as a result.
Council told The City News in May that a detailed investigation of the intersection was underway to find answers to pedestrian safety.
The new crossing was placed late last month ‘to enhance pedestrian facilities and to increase driver awareness of pedestrian using the location to cross’, a Council spokesperson said.
‘Pedestrian access at the intersection of Elizabeth and Randle Streets has been a long standing issue and Council has made a number of improvements to assist pedestrians.’
The spokesperson said Council was aware of the community concerns over no pedestrian crossing on Randle Street, and that vehicles were turning left from Elizabeth Street at an excessive speeds, as well as vehicles parking too close to the corner.
As a result Council carried out kerb extensions on either side of Randle Street at Elizabeth Street, stopping cars from parking too close to the intersection, which reduced the speed of vehicles entering the street. Council also reduced the width of road.
Although the Randle Street crossing was not a consequence of the Surry Hills Local Area Traffic Management (LATM), the intersection was included in the draft Local Area Traffic Management Scheme as an existing City project, and was also independently recommended by the Council’s traffic consultant during his review of Surry Hills.
Mr Adams said residents and retailers want traffic lights to be moved from the front of the Evening Star Hotel in Elizabeth Street to Randle Street.
‘We have monitored and find that some drivers do not stop when pedestrians are crossing,’ he said.
‘There is intimidation here and we feel that there is a fatality in the offering unless older persons can safely cross this death trap.’
Mr Adams said the community cannot understand why the lights were placed in their current position in the first place.
‘With driver aggression we are fearful of a fatality. However, at least we now have the crosswalk.’
The Surry Hills LATM will include:
* Pedestrian crossing for Cooper Street at Elizabeth Street.
* Signal pedestrian crossing on Foveaux Street east of Elizabeth Street.
* Signal pedestrian crossing on Chalmers Street near Belvoir Street (subject to RTA approval).
* Pedestrian crossing for Eddy Avenue at the intersection of Elizabeth Street (subject to RTA approval).
* Separated cycleway on Chalmers Street from Prince Alfred Park (northern entrance) to Eddy Avenue.
* Shared cycle/pedestrian path on Elizabeth Street between Eddy Avenue and Hay Street.
* Kerb extensions on Elizabeth Street and Chalmers Street to reduce crossing distances for pedestrians.
* Changes to the intersection of Elizabeth and Devonshire Streets to provide pedestrian crossings on all four approaches.

 

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