Village St traffic tension

By Elliana Saltalamacchia

Village Docklands owners’ corporation (OC) is upset about planned changes to traffic flow on Village St because it says the change will inconvenience residents.

Places Victoria will early next year convert the section between Bourke St and Fishplate Lane into a one-way street, with traffic to flow in a northerly direction towards Etihad Stadium, in order to create a pedestrian and cycle-friendly precinct.

Village Docklands is a residential building located at the southern end of Village St in Batman’s Hill. Its OC says, although it supports the creation of an enhanced public realm, it objects to the removal of southbound traffic.

The change will mean that residents will enter via Batman’s Hill Drive and Fishplate Lane to access their apartments, instead of using the northern section of Village St.

OC chair Graham Standfield said the owners’ corporation did not want residents to have to bear this.

He said residents had already endured major inconvenience over the past 11 years caused by various Docklands planning authorities.

“When will the Village Docklands residents be prioritised over the commercial developers and corporates?” he asked.

Mr Standfield also said the change to a one-way street would create large northbound traffic flow in the afternoon and evenings through the restaurant end, when traffic from Collins Square car parks was exiting via Village St.

He said the OC proposed that Places Victoria instead open a connecting street between Village St and Aurora Lane under the Collins St overpass to divert traffic.

But Places Victoria general manager precincts Simon Wilson said a traffic study showed positive results from the changes.

“Our traffic study has shown that this section of Village St is ideally suited for conversion into a shared zone, which will see less vehicles using the street and to give pedestrians and cyclists priority,” Mr Wilson said.

Mr Wilson also said Places Victoria had taken on board feedback from local businesses regarding loading access, and said the overall sentiment of the businesses in the area was extremely positive.

The changes to Village St form part of Places Victoria’s larger vision to create a vibrant, green and pedestrian-friendly public space, with less reliance on vehicles.

Places Victoria said work was set to commence in late January or early February 2017, and was expected to be completed by June.