Group calls for Epsom safety improvements

WHEN two Epsom Primary School students were hit by a car at the intersection of Howard Street and Midland Highway earlier this year the incident became a catalyst for Kelly Durie’s campaign for safer roads in the suburb.

“They were crossing at the lights with the school crossing supervisor, they had a green man and a car that has been turning right off Howard Street has unfortunately collected the kids as they’ve come around the corner,” she said.

“Because my kids go to that school I was like ‘okay so who’s the group or who’s the person that’s helping the community deal with these road issues?’… and nobody came back with anything.”

In February Ms Durie established the Epsom Road Safety Group to advocate for safer roads in the area and act as a central point of communication for the public.

Currently, the group are petitioning the Victorian Parliament to prioritise and seek funding for upgrades to the Howard Street and Midland Highway intersection after a planning application was made to the municipality for a gym, restaurant, car wash and bottle shop on vacant land at one corner of the intersection, with a KFC already approved for construction directly opposite.

Ms Durie said upgrades were needed before construction on either corner of the intersection began to relieve congestion already present in the area.

“The planning application that went in for the Woolworths site made some minor changes to the road, but they weren’t looking at making it wider and we can see some really big traffic implications going ahead with those developments without making changes to this intersection,” she said.

“What we want is three lanes on Howard Street from each side of the intersection that allows for a left turning lane, a straight lane and a right turning lane.”

Ms Durie said widening the street would benefit B-double truck drivers making right hand turns from Midland Highway to continue along the over dimensional route run westbound along Howard Street to Marong.

“They manage to get round there, but there’s lots of near misses because the vehicles are that much bigger and need that much more area to actually turn,” she said.

“The intersection is not built for the trucks that we’ve got going through it now.”

According to Ms Durie the suggestion to widen Howard Street was a more achievable solution to the problems at the intersection than a truck bypass.

“With all the discussions that I’ve had since I’ve become involved with this and done my research, that is such a costly exercise that the reality is I don’t think it’s ever going to go ahead,” she said.

“For me I felt that widening Howard Street was doable, I felt that we could possibly achieve something if we got enough signatures and enough support to upgrade the existing B-double route and make it safer for everybody.

“We’ve been loosely provided with a figure of between $12 and $16 million to upgrade the intersection.”

Currently the Epsom Road Safety Group is also conducting a community survey where members of the public can voice their road safety concerns and report near misses in the suburb to guide their advocacy.

“We’ve got lots of things in the pipeline,” Ms Durie said. “We’re sourcing hi-vis ponchos for kids to wear to school.

“We’ve got lots of community education stuff going on behind the scenes as well.”