SURVEY RESULTS ARE IN - Active Transport Community Survey - Woodend Township
Survey summary
The Woodend Community were presented with 6 options for modification/improvement of our active transport network in Woodend. TAG asked that these options be ranked in order of importance so as to inform Council of funding priority for the Council budget. What became apparent though was many participants wanted to tick ALL the boxes as equally important. As all other recent surveys across the Shire have shown, the public are desperate for an investment in active transport. As we did ask for the options to be ranked these are the results.
55 total answers were collect by the TAG Team both in person down at the Farmers Markets and by the MRSG Survey online from Dec 2019 - Mid Feb 2020
Thank you to all those who filled in the survey and a special thanks to Emilie Van de Graaff for design and implementation and Laurent for compiling the results.
Option 1: Safe route to Primary Schools from South - 9%
Pedestrian crossings along Templeton and Nicholson streets at each intersection (ie: Brooke St, Urquhart St and Anslow St).
Option 2: Safe route to Primary School from North - 5%
Pedestrian crossing on Romsey Rd between High St and Old Lancefield Rd (at the Bentinck).
Option 3: Reduce speed limits throughout Township - 11%
Restricting the speed limit to 40km/h within the town boundaries – on all streets
Option 4: Redesign Coles Intersection - 58%
Changes to the intersection outside Coles (High St and Urquhart St) such as traffic lights and roundabout.
Option 5: Safe route to Braemar College - 8%
Shared foot and cycle path to Braemar College (and Hanging Rock) via Five Mile Creek.
Option 6: Masterplan for High Street - 9%
Slow traffic on High St and prioritise pedestrians and cyclists in service lane
Results
#1 - The improvement of the Coles intersection is by far the number one priority with about 60% of people choosing it as their first intended network modification
Looking at the second and third choices helps to establish a better ranking for the remaining answers
#2 & #3 - It appears that establishing a safe access to schools are the number two and three priorities with a pedestrian access to the Templeton Parish school and a shared foot and cycle path to Braemar College (Woodend campus) through the Five Mile Creek.
#4 - Next is reducing the traffic speed on High Street and implementing priorities for pedestrian/cyclist on the side lanes.
#5 - It seems that the survey’s participants prefer a targeted masterplan to slow down the car speed rather than a uniform speed decrease to 40km/h everywhere in town.
#6 - Finally a pedestrian crossing on Romsey Rd between High St and Old Lancefield Rd is the last priority from this survey.
Survey comments
List of individual comments from the participants.
1. Speed on Avenue of Honour should be reduced from 100km/h as pedestrians use it, particularly children accessing school buses & local driveway access. Many near-misses, very dangerous.
2. Safe pedestrian/cycle path along Black Forest Drive out of Woodend towards Macedon -it's 4 lanes so can hopefully accommodate some better bike/walking paths and encourage safer movement between townships for non-drivers
3. Paths for riding and walking from Edgewood Estate into town/school
4. The Coles intersection is number 1 for me because I feel it’s very dangerous for everyone
5. Slow traffic on Anslow Street and provide pavements. It’s getting heaps of houses and really fast cars. Cycle and pedestrian path to the private school seems a waste of time as the school does not allow students to cycle or walk to school. An overall plan for the town. Less crossovers on High Street Consideration of disabled and poorly baked people in paths and design/construction-new work is not great.
6. Re my number 2 ranked option - 40km/hr in school zones and 50km/hr in other township areas
7. Definitely need a pedestrian crossing between Old Lancefield Rd and Romsey Rd. My two high school kids cross their daily to the school bus and it's dangerous. Lots of primary school kids also ride bikes across or walk across the road unattended by an adult I notice each day
8. This is a pretty shit survey. They all need to be addressed - just fix it. It’s not rocket science
9. Pedestrian crossing on Romsey Rd would be incredibly dangerous
10. The increased traffic and changed use of the intersection of Urquart and High Street since the new Coles construction need to be addressed. It has made that intersection very dangerous. Coming out of the train car park turning right onto Urquhart is fraught due to north bound traffic turning left into Urquhart to go to Coles. These two roads are almost parallel and then turning across each other. Also turning right at the intersection of High and Urquhart is very dangerous and time consuming.
11. A ped crossing at the train station to Brooke Street is well overdue. More pavements throughout town including both sides of Brooke Street. Existing gravel roads should be adopted - Ligar Street, Urquhart St, Wood Street. All intersections to be assessed - I know three people that were T-boned at Woodend intersections in the last 6 months (all other drivers failed to stop)
12. A cycle/walking path on Cobb & Co Rd from Carlsruhe to Woodend so we can cycle from home with our children.
13. Forest/High St needs to be a safer pedestrian crossing. Traffic from High St moves too fast! Maybe install traffic lights there too.
14. A dedicated path for walkers and cyclists that links most towns in the Macedon Ranges. Basically engineer out high risk and create health options. E-bikes for lease E-bike charging stations Work from home incentives Create hot desk business centres at community houses around MR Electric Share cars in town
15. Ring walking/cycle track that encircles the town boundry. With spoke paths that link the track to centre of town ensuring all schools within township have at least one path close by.
16. A footpath on old lancefield road and stuart drive is needed.
17. Footpath planning is atrocious in Woodend. I would love to see the council review and focus on connecting existing footpaths across town to build a holistic safe network. The Washington Lane development is one example where paths come to dead ends and pedestrians are focused to move to the road
18. Bike lane on Ashbourne Rd. Cars fly down that road. It is not safe. I would like to think I could send the teenager on a bike into Woodend at some point without fearing for his life
19. The Coles intersection is urgent. It’s a debacle and someone is going to get seriously hurt. The only reason it hasn’t happened yet is because most drivers are locals and mindful of their community. Plus it’s ridiculously inefficient.
20. A safe bicycle path from Carlsruhe to Woodend (rail trail type) would be great. There is more than enough room on the nature strip on Cobb and Co Rd running from the weigh bridge all the way into town.
21. 50 zone on High street between the 2 bridges. 90 where it is now 100 on the Avenue of Honour to the highway. A roundabout at the High Street Coles railway intersection with a pedestrian crossing on north side crossing High street.
22. Footpaths in some locations should be prioritised to both encourage walking and for pedestrian safety. Schaw St is in desperate need of upgrade as it is now a very busy thoroughfare since Coles has opened.
23. Those diabolical (in a good way) speed bumps on Owen St next to WPS have really eased some of my concerns with the prospect of my Grade 1 child walking at least part of the way to school. Owen street is busy and unsealed, but walkable. On the other hand, the Coles intersection is diabolical in a BAD way. I've been waiting for the bike path to Hanging Rock since I moved here 12 years ago. It would be fantastic if it got going.
24. Prioritise pedestrian and cyclists first in all future planning decisions
25. Prioritise pedestrians and cyclists first in all future planning decisions.
26. More cycling infrastructure. Roundabout at Coles intersection. Slow High St traffic down.
27. Extend 60km Zone on Black Forest Drive out past South Rd. Currently very dangerous for kids crossing the road at that intersection to use school bus stops.
28. Transform the side roads along High Street to pedestrian and bicycle only areas