A design to make a Shenton Park street safer for pedestrians and bike riders has residents concerned it will have the exact opposite effect in nearby streets.
Evans Street to Keightley Road is set to be converted into a “safe active street”, which will provide more accessibility for cyclists and pedestrians by reducing the speed limit to 30km/h and adding traffic calming infrastructure.
But Shenton Park residents said at Tuesday night’s City of Subiaco council meeting they were concerned the changes would increase traffic on nearby roads including Morgan Street, Waylen Road and Onslow Road.
Josephine McPhee handed in a 43-signature petition from residents urging the city to protect Morgan Street and Waylen Road from increased traffic and for traffic calming measures to negate any increase in vehicles.
“It is critical that traffic monitoring for the period before implementation and after implementation will be needed to inform remediation measures if our worst fears are realised that it will have adverse effects,” Ms McPhee said.
Councillors tried to ease residents’ concerns by adding an amendment to the decision to install the safe active street that before and after construction the city will monitor traffic on Evans Street and neighbouring roads to see if the works have led to more traffic.
The report will recommend remedial action if the changes to Evans Street have an adverse impact on the neighbouring streets.
Technical services director James Hambly said traffic monitoring was standard practice for a project such as this.
“Providing the findings of a comparative traffic assessment in a report to council will enable this information to be provided in a transparent way to residents who hold concerns over changes in traffic due to the project,” he said.
Cr Rosemary de Vries, who moved the proposal, acknowledged residents’ fears but said the conversion was a must to get more children riding and walking to school.
“Many of us can attest to traffic during school drop-offs and that is definitely the case at Shenton Park,” she said.
“Healthy active streets are a must for the future of our children.”
The design for the “safe active street” was carried unanimously by councillors and will now be provided to Main Roads WA and the Department of Transport for approval.
The city received $85,000 in WA Bicycle Network grant funding to develop the concept and is in line for a further $425,000 for construction.