Natural flow of traffic
Baw Baw Shire mayor Cr Mikaela Power has defended council’s decision to convert the southern section of Smith St to one way traffic.
While plans for the one way traffic movement have been on the table for years, community opposition to the proposal has flared since council awarded a tender for the works in December.
Despite extensive consultation before the plans were finalised, the tender announcement triggered an angry response from many people in the community with many letters to the editor in The Gazette and hundreds of people signing a petition.
The project will create one way traffic flow in a southerly direction in Smith St between Palmerston St and the cenotaph.
Cr Power said the one-way streets aimed to make the heart of Warragul more pedestrianfriendly.
“There are two main benefits – improved safety and amenity. One-way traffic flow is more predictable making it safer and easier for pedestrians to navigate the town on foot.
“This arrangement also encourages drivers crossing from one side of town to the other to use the outskirts of the cbd (such as Mason St), rather than through the busy cbd space,” she said.
Much of the debate and backlash about Smith St also has reignited concerns that Palmerston St should never have been made one way last year; and some suggestions that it’s one way flow is the wrong direction.
Cr Power said sending traffic in the opposite direction would have decreased the efficiency of vehicle movements through the Smith and Victoria St intersection, causing a back-up to the Queen St roundabout.
She said the design being implemented would create a giant roundabout within the cbd, creating more efficient traffic flow through intersections.
“Traffic from Palmerston St will naturally flow into Smith St, so that traffic can exit the cbd area through a safe and controlled intersection,” she said.