Lower Heidelberg Road Pedestrian Safety Improvements

We’ve improved safety along Lower Heidelberg Road in Ivanhoe East by installing a set of traffic lights and a raised pedestrian crossing, as part of the Australian Government’s Road Safety Program, being delivered in partnership with the Victorian Government.

What we've done

To make Lower Heidelberg Road in Ivanhoe East safer for school children, shoppers and other pedestrians, we have:

• installed a set of traffic lights and a raised pedestrian crossing at Lower Heidelberg Road between Carmichael Street and Wilfred Road in Ivanhoe East
• carried out kerb and pavement works on Lower Heidelberg Road
• resurfaced parts of Lower Heidelberg Road between Carmichael Street and Wilfred Road.

The new traffic lights and raised pedestrian crossing on Lower Heidelberg Road complement the existing pedestrian crossing east of Burton Crescent and the location was chosen as a priority, based on safety and accessibility.

The new traffic lights are programmed to keep traffic flowing on Lower Heidelberg Road until a pedestrian is detected at the traffic lights and include technology that automatically adjusts pedestrian crossing times.

Changes to parking 

To make these important safety improvements, we needed to remove five parking bays on Lower Heidelberg Road near Carmichael Street.

We worked with Banyule City Council to ensure the location of the new traffic lights and raised pedestrian crossing aligns with future streetscaping plans to revitalise East Ivanhoe Village and to minimise parking removal.

Background

In the five-year period ending December 2019, four crashes occurred on Lower Heidelberg Road in Ivanhoe East between Carmichael Street and Burton Crescent and two crashes caused serious injury. Fortunately no lives were lost.

A breakdown of trauma shows us that in 2015, an average of 7 per cent of deaths and serious injuries in Victoria were caused by crashes involving cyclists and 
11 per cent of deaths and serious injuries were from crashes involving pedestrians. 

Research shows that if a pedestrian or cyclist is hit by a car travelling at 60km/h they are unlikely to survive. In fact, a pedestrian’s or cyclist’s risk of death or serious injury increases where vehicles are traveling at speeds of 30 km/h and upwards.

Mistakes happen, which as humans we can’t always avoid. What we can do is build more forgiving road infrastructure so that when a mistake does happen on the road, it doesn’t cost a life.

These upgrades were made as part of the Australian Government’s Road Safety Program, being delivered in partnership with the Victorian Government to deliver safer, connected journeys in Victoria, while supporting our economic recovery.

This $860,000 project is a jointly funded project. The Australian Government committed $415,000 and the Victorian Government committed $415,000.

For more information about this project, please get in touch.

Email: [email protected]