Zoe Moffatt
As the sun beats down, local resident Alan Olson waits patiently on the corner of Gap and Anderson roads in Sunbury, to find a safe time to cross the busy intersection.
With cars and trucks constantly passing by, Mr Olson shares his concerns about the intersection and how it is endangering Sunbury’s most vulnerable residents.
“My wife and I walk everyday and we go past [this] intersection… and there’s a lot of pedestrians that use [it]… what we’ve seen in the morning frightens me a little bit,” he said.
“You have school children, you have elderly people, you have people on walking frames [with wheels]… there’s people in motorised wheelchairs.
“It’s all ages that access that intersection, all through the day. You’ve also got the nursing home, a little bit down Anderson road from there, which is accessed by mostly elderly people.”
Mr Olson is calling on the state government to do a feasibility study and investigate putting in a pedestrian crossing, and he said he would like to see Hume council step up and advocate for its residents.
“I really believe it needs to have a study done on it to assess the amount of traffic that goes through that area at all times through the day and night,” he said.
“I’ve spoken to Josh Bull about it… nothing’s happened… and I have approached the council on it. They told me, it’s out of their hands because it belongs to the state government.
“I feel if council could at least write to VicRoads or the state [government] telling them or asking it for a feasibility study, I think that would get something going at least.”
Mr Olson said there is a kilometre between the two closest pedestrian lights to the intersection, which is very far for pedestrians to walk just to cross the road.
“In between, you have this intersection that has no access for people to cross, and if you have to go all the way down there and come back, that’s an awful lot of time.
“There are three pedestrian crossings in Evans Street and we can’t seem to manage to get one on this busy road. I just can’t fathom the knowledge in that.
“Also the fact that Sunbury’s growing every day… so it’s just going to get a lot busier, which means people accessing this intersection, it’s just going to make it harder for them.”
Mr Bull said he is always keen to hear from Sunbury residents.
“[I] welcome feedback from the community on this issue for further discussion and investigation,” he said.
Melissa Horne and Hume council were both contacted for comment.
