Project background

Since the adoption of Yarra’s Transport Strategy 2022-32, there is now a new unified and progressive vision regarding transport and road safety. Wellington Street has been identified as a key corridor for upgrading within the New Deal for Cycling implementation plan as well as Yarra’s Transport Strategy overall.

The completion of the Wellington Street strategic cycling corridor is the first flagship project coming out of this space and builds on the substantial work that has occurred over the last 10 years. Stage 1 of the Wellington Street strategic cycling corridor was completed in 2015 between Victoria Parade and Gipps Street whilst Stage 2 between Gipps Street and Johnston Street was completed in 2019.

The consultation held between Monday 9 October and Monday 6 November 2023 was to help understand the issues and inform the future design of Wellington Street across two additional stages of construction:

• Stage 3 covers from Johnston Street to Alexandra Parade in Collingwood.
• Stage 4 covers from Alexandra Parade to Queens Parade in Clifton Hill.

What did we ask?

We wanted to understand the community's experiences travelling on the northern half of Wellington Street to inform our initial designs. We asked you:

• What are the current issues and pain points for anyone travelling via Wellington Street?
• How can we improve the street for active transport users like cyclists and pedestrians?

What did we hear?

Some of the common themes we heard through the consultation were:

• The existing road width being too narrow causing safety issues such as:
  • dooring risks
  • bike lanes being crowded
  • no room for cyclists to overtake
  • lack of space for people to react safely to hazards
• Support for the 30km/h speed limit trial due to safety benefits.
• Frustration expressed with lower speed regulations as participants felt that it slowed down their journey in a vehicle unnecessarily.
• Improvement needed for walking conditions. Participants commented that new crossings were needed, and existing ones needed to be made safer.
• Safety issues caused by cars turning into, out of or crossing Wellington Street including:
  • blocking bicycle lanes
  • turning across the paths of oncoming cars or bicycles
  • illegally stopping in ‘no stopping’ areas
• The existing painted bicycle lanes were too narrow, which made participants feel unsafe and present a risk of car dooring from parked cars.
• Some participants had concerns about cyclists not complying with road rules.
• The existing on-street car parking bays were too narrow particularly for larger vehicles.
• Participants indicated that consideration needed to be given to parking availability for accessible bays, business needs and potential spillover car parking impacts onto narrow side streets.
• The poor quality of the bike lanes north of Johnson Street contrasted sharply with the good quality lanes provided to the south.
• There was too much traffic on Wellington Street.
• The road surface was in poor condition and features potholes, cobblestones, tree roots, other debris and service pit covers.

You can view all of the comments we received online via the social map using this link. If you would like to learn more about the consultation you can read the full engagement report below.

What comes next?

The following elements will inform the future design for the northern section n of Wellington Street:

• what we heard as part of the initial consultation held between Monday 9 October and Monday 6 November 2023
• data on:
  • traffic flow in the area
  • parking
  • community safety

This initial concept design process is expected to take approximately 12 months to complete. The process involves:

• concept designs of options
• road safety auditing
• peer reviews
• options assessment
• service checking
• State Government approvals

In anticipation of this initial design process, the next opportunity for community feedback is scheduled for early 2025.

Concept designs and options will be shared with the community for feedback to inform a Council endorsed preferred design. We will reconnect with the community when these are available for feedback.

Visit the project page.

To read more about this consultation please visit the "Building a safer Wellington Street" project page.