Many of the residents of Victoria’s inner urban city of Port Phillip will soon be walking as an alternative mode of transport, once Council’s new walking strategy has been formulated and implemented.
“Walking is the glue that holds together not only our transport system but our communities,” said Mayor Darren Ray.
The first step in the strategy was a community wide consultation seminar held in December 2002. International expert, Rod Tolley, from the UK Centre for Alternative and Sustainable Transport, spoke at the seminar. He explained how walking can lead to safer streets, healthier communities and a more sustainable future. He also provided some practical guidelines on how to improve the walking environment and bring streets to life.
Councillor Ray said that the walking strategy would bring together all the programs and projects around walking and pedestrian issues into a single, coordinated approach.
“Among other things, Council will be committing to an audit of current walking patterns in Port Phillip, plus a review of the current programs that encourage walking,” Councillor Ray said. “We’ll also be examining how things work for pedestrians at interchange points such as tram and bus stops. In the end, Council aims to develop guidelines to encourage pedestrian friendly road and place design, and a program of Council works to roll this out.”
He also said that one of the greatest barriers to walking in Port Phillip is St Kilda Road, where it takes two sets of lights to legally cross the road. Effectively cutting the St Kilda community in two, many older pedestrians find crossing St Kilda Road very intimidating. To address this problem, Urban Injections, an exhibition late last year of designs from fourth year Deakin University building and architecture students, included several designs for a new overhead pedestrian bridge near the St Kilda Town Hall.
For further information, contact Council’s Sustainable Neighbourhood Transport Coordinator, Helen Jennings, on (03) 9209 6274.
