The City of Hobart has released access travel plans to make it easier to get to three local primary schools by foot, bike or bus, but councillors have called for a stronger emphasis on safety.
The plans for Goulburn Street, New Town and South Hobart primary schools detail changes to routes to schools, such as improved pedestrian crossings and installation of kerb ramps.
Projects in the plan will provide a guide map for the City of Hobart to apply for grants and allocate its own budget to make the changes.
The plans were endorsed at the Hobart Council meeting on 19 August 2024, which also debated changes to strengthen them.
Chair of the council’s Mobility Committee, Ryan Posselt, pointed out that since the process started five years ago, strategic documents had been approved which empower the City of Hobart to better prioritise safety.
“I do want to see safety prioritised around schools and I do desperately want to see more wombat crossings, less pedestrian islands and intersections that are problematic, such as the D’Arcy Street intersection, fixed. Not with simple paint on road, that’s not good enough," he said.
"We’ve talked about D’Arcy Street for more than a decade, it is time to invest money, capital works money, to actually redesign it and fix the intersection.”
Councillor Gemma Kitsos moved an amendment to change the recommendation to “consider” the plans in the budget process to “implement” the plans through the budget process and added a new recommendation: “Further work be undertaken to investigate formalised crossings at strategic locations in school active travel plans”. Both changes were accepted.
Because the travel plans have taken several years to compile, some of the recommended changes have already been made. The remaining recommendations in order of priority include:
Goulburn Street Primary
- Vehicle speed and management in Liverpool Crescent and installing footpaths.
- Kerb bulbing on Frederick Street and car parking management.
- median crossing on Forest Road at Liverpool Crescent and car parking management.
- Kerb bulbing and kerb ramps at Goulburn and Molle streets intersection.
- Upgrade of junction at intersection of Cavell, Goulburn and Frederick streets.
- Install a kerb ramp and upgrade the median on Bathurst Street at Barrack Street.
New Town Primary
- Improve crossing at Clare and Montagu streets roundabout.
- Traffic calming of Pedder Street (already identified in local area mobility plan).
- Improve the crossing at Forster and Montagu streets.
South Hobart Primary
- Clearer road markings and safety awareness on Degraves Street.
- Deter parking on the footpath at the corner of Anglesea and Macquarie streets.
- Consider raised threshold at D’Arcy and Washington streets intersection.
- install pedestrian island at Weld and Macquarie streets intersection, Cascade Road at Badminton building and Cascade and Congress streets intersection.
- Improve road markings in Anglesea Street.
- Investigate footpath improvements along Strickland Avenue.
The three travel plans were funded by a Tasmanian Government grant, and the council will seek funding to produce a plan for its eight other government primary schools.