Ann Street Pedestrian Crossing

SPRA has written to Council to seek clarification and urge action regarding a proposed pedestrian crossing on Ann Street Stepney.

About four years ago Council circulated Stepney residents following concerns posed for pedestrian safety by traffic traversing Ann Street in the vicinity of the Avenues Shopping Centre. We understand many residents responded, requesting that traffic in Ann Street be restricted to one-way or part one-way access. To date, nothing has resulted from that survey.

Sometime later, residents requested that Council take action to improve pedestrian safety in Ann Street, particularly in the vicinity of the Avenues Shopping Centre. Parking in this area is permitted on both sides of the street, which means that only one motor vehicle at a time can safely traverse Ann Street. Although there is a speed limit of 40km/h, motorists frequently ignore this and speed through Ann Street, ignoring oncoming traffic and pedestrians attempting to cross the street. When vehicles are parked on the Avenues Shopping Centre side of the street, pedestrians cannot see beyond the cars to ascertain if cars are coming from the Magill Road end without the dangerous manoeuvre of venturing out into Ann Street itself. It is a matter of time before a pedestrian is killed or severely injured. There are no calming measures in Ann Street, apart from the 40km/h speed limit.

Once the Otto development near the Magill end of Ann Street is completed, there will likely be even more traffic on Ann Street and the danger to pedestrians will increase exponentially. It appears that the urgency of measures to improve pedestrian safety in this part of Ann Street has been played down or ignored by Council, which has taken no action to alleviate this dangerous situation for at least the past two years.

We look forward to hearing what action Council intends to do.