Work to start on Fischer Street car parks

The roadworks will create car parks along the eastern side of this section of Fischer Street in Torquay. Photo: JAMES TAYLOR

WORK to create formalised car parking along Torquay’s Fischer Street will begin from Thursday, July 15, as part of the Surf Coast Shire council’s Connecting Torquay Town Centre strategy.

The project will result in 84 car parking spaces, two long bay parking spaces and two disabled bay parking spaces along Fischer Street between Zeally Bay Road and Beach Road.

Including the spaces on Zeally Bay Road, the project will include 150 formalised car spaces.

Bike stations, pedestrian crossings and wayfinding signage are also part of the strategy.

The project is part of the Torquay Town Centre Urban Design Framework which was developed in 2017 and aims to create clear and effective connections between key natural assets, Taylor Park and the foreshore, as well as the town centre through physical connections and wayfinding.

The works will be under the control of traffic management and travel times may be affected with the potential of some lane closures and delays.

People have been asked to plan ahead and make necessary arrangements during the works, which are expected to take about seven to eight weeks.

The shire received state government funding from Regional Development Victoria towards the project.

The Torquay Town Centre Urban Design Framework flagged the section of Fischer Street north of Zeally Bay Road on the Taylor Park side four years ago as a potential spot for long bay parking.

“Fischer Street has long been identified as a key access road into the town centre and has consistently provided the third-most used vehicular access into the town centre – this hasn’t changed over the last 20 years according to data collection,” the framework states.

The UDF supports the role of Fischer Street, in association with Pearl Street, in establishing a clear network of vehicular routes and providing an alternate north-south route to The Esplanade.

If members of the public have any questions about these works, the council is encouraging them to lodge a request via the shire’s website.