14th of May 2024, 1:09pm
Legislative Council of Victoria | Spring Street, Melbourne
David ETTERSHANK (Western Metropolitan):
My constituency question is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. My constituent is one of hundreds of cyclists who commute to the CBD from the west and is concerned that Footscray Road will again be closed due to works on the West Gate Tunnel Project, with cyclists forced to use Dynon Road.
Last week a cyclist was seriously injured by a B-double at the intersection of Dynon Road and CityLink. Just like the death of Angus Collins on Footscray Road in February last year, cyclists and traffic have the same simultaneous green lights.
Freedom-of-information documents show that safety concerns raised by the community are well and truly on the department of transport’s radar, but no action has yet been taken.
My constituent asks: will the minister instruct the department of transport to urgently reconfigure the light sequencing at this intersection to protect cyclists from trucks?
Written Answer
Received: 12 August 2024
Hon. Danny Pearson
(Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for the Suburban Rail Loop, Assistant Treasurer, Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC)
I thank the Member for their question, which has been referred to me as the Minister for Transport Infrastructure.
The Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) advises that to support construction activities of the West Gate Tunnel Project, intermittent closures of the nearby Footscray Road shared use path have been implemented, detouring cyclists to Dynon Road.
I am pleased to advise that a new section of shared use path on Dynon Road has been constructed around the CityLink on-ramp. This section of the shared use path was opened on 22 May 2024 and has enabled the signalised crossing at this location to be closed in the east-west direction.
The Westgate Gate Tunnel Project will deliver more than 14km of new and upgraded shared user paths.
This includes the brand new 2.5km veloway- a cycling superhighway linking Footscray to the city. The track will be elevated above Footscray Road, entirely separating cyclists from the traffic below.
[ENDS]
