St Georges Road Safety Improvement Project

We’re improving the safety along St Georges Road while balancing the needs of drivers, public transport users, cyclists and pedestrians. St Georges Road is a high priority strategic cycling corridor.

Project update - July 2018

Five median openings along St Georges Road were closed while Melbourne Water carried out M40 pipeline construction works. This project is now complete and these median openings have been reopened.

While the median openings were closed in May 2017, we carried out consultation to get community feedback on the impact of the Melbourne Water closures on local amenity and access.  

We also carried out traffic modelling and queue length surveys to assess the impact of the temporary closures on St Georges Road and the local road network.

A review is now underway into improving the safety of St Georges Road while balancing the needs of drivers, public transport users, cyclists and pedestrians.

The results of this research will form the basis of how we propose to improve St Georges Road for all motorists, tram user, pedestrians and cyclists.

Project background

St George’s Road is separated by a 27m wide centre median that consists of tram lines and a cycle and pedestrian path which carries 1600 cyclists every weekday to and from the northern suburbs. 

A review of the crash history shows there were 61 casualty crashes on St George’s Rd between Arthurton Road and Miller Street in five years prior to 30 June 2016. 14 crashes occurred at the centre median openings. 

In 2015, the City of Darebin commissioned a safety study, which recommended closing most of the centre medians between Merri Parade and Murray Road to address safety concerns.

Community involvement

We received over 2300 responses covering a range of themes including traffic flow and safety. We had a number of people who wanted the medians closed to improve safety for cyclists. 

There was also consistent feedback that closing all five medians will increase traffic congestion and limit access to local amenities, businesses and schools.

To find out more on community feedback, read Community Consultation Report August 2017 [PDF 1.8Mb,18pages] or Community Consultation Report Appendix 1 - survey responses [PDF 2.2Mb, 206 pages]

What happens next?

The five centre median crossings between Miller Street and Arthurton Road are now open as we continue to work on a plan to make it safer for everyone.

The results of the survey and community feedback will help inform our investigations and thinking about how to improve this part of the network.

We’ll keep you informed as we explore solutions. 

Documents:

St Georges Road, Northcote median opening review

Community Consultation Report August 2017 [PDF 1.8Mb,18 pages]

Community Consultation Report Appendix 1 - survey responses [PDF 2.2Mb, 206 pages]

Information Update August 2017 [PDF 105Kb]

Contact us

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

Email: [email protected]