Sturt Street safety upgrades complete

UPGRADES of intersections along Sturt Street were officially completed last week as part of the State Government’s Keeping Ballarat Moving initiative.

The $60 million project included works on six high-risk intersections along the boulevard, and member for Wendouree Juliana Addison said residents travelling by foot or bike will benefit from them.

“These works have boosted the safety of everyone travelling along Sturt Street, upgrading these high-risk intersections was in the best interest of our community,” she said.

“The new Sturt Street shared path will encourage more people to get active, whether that means more students riding their bikes to school, a new walking route or leaving the car at home when heading into the city’s centre.”

The works included the installation of traffic lights at the Ascot, Raglan and Ripon street intersections, and the Errad, Talbot and Lyons street intersections have been transformed into U-turn only configurations.

The works, delivered by Regional Roads Victoria in partnership with the Transport Accident Commission, began after data revealed the intersections were some of the most dangerous in western Victoria, with 135 people injured from 85 crashes according to the figures from 2011 to 2017.