General News
22 June, 2023
Highway crossing concern call
RESIDENTS have started a petition demanding a long-awaited pedestrian crossing be installed on the Calder Highway at Wedderburn. Retired nurse Cheryl Fowler launched the petition at the weekend after seeing an elderly resident struggle to cross the...
RESIDENTS have started a petition demanding a long-awaited pedestrian crossing be installed on the Calder Highway at Wedderburn.
Retired nurse Cheryl Fowler launched the petition at the weekend after seeing an elderly resident struggle to cross the busy highway.
“There was a frail lady using a walking frame trying to cross the street and struggling with turbulence from trucks as she walked from the doctor’s surgery to the chemist,” Cheryl said.
“This is happening all the time and people are frightened.
“Trucks and other vehicles speed through town .. our shopping area.”
Cheryl said she had already received support for the petition from Wedderburn business owners wanting installation of a pedestrian crossing.
She said underground services were installed when the town’s streetscape was upgraded five years ago.
“VicRoads, the TAC and Government run road safety campaigns but they only tick the boxes and they don’t produce action to make local roads safer,” she said.
“All is ready to go to install the crossing. It’s sad nothing has been done ... this is a chance for the Government to act before someone is hurt.”
Cheryl said she had spoken with Loddon Shire’s Wedderburn Ward councillor Gavan Holt and Ripon MP Martha Haylett.
Cr Holt said the need for a pedestrian crossing had been raised with Calder Highway Improvement Committee over the past 15 years.
He said underground electrical cabling installed during streetscape works meant the project could quickly proceed if the Department of Transport received funding.
Cheryl said copies of the petition would be sent to Transport Minister Ben Carroll, Roads and Freight Minister Melissa Horne, government transport and road safety agencies and Ms Haylett.
Wedderburn’s push for improved road safety through the Calder Highway town adds to calls this year to lower the speed limit in Inglewood and a pedestrian crossing in Bridgewater.
Cheryl said she did not understand why the Department of Transport had rejected previous requests for a Wedderburn crossing, The department has been contacted for comment.