Stage 1 Community Consultation

We consulted with affected owners and occupiers in November/ December 2018 on traffic safety improvements along Squires Ave and surrounding streets in Seaton because of several concerns from residents regarding cut-through traffic and driver behaviour.

We asked residents to provide feedback and to rank their most preferred of six traffic calming options (Road Humps, Single Lane Parallel Slow Points; Road humps with kerb protuberances; Narrowing the Roadway; Painted Medians at Intersections including raised pavement bars as well as to Leave Squires Ave as it is). We engaged with 772 people within the area and had 84 people respond to our survey and 7 attended the Community Open Day.

Through the survey, most of the respondents stated that they felt that the walking conditions; street amenity/appearance; landscaping & trees; cycling and driving conditions are all good within Squires Avenue. Respondents feel that most drivers travelling at or below 52 km/h is acceptable (51%) along with traffic volumes in Squires Avenue being acceptable (56%)

Some key themes that came out through the survey were:

• Cars parked at the Tapleys Hill Road /Squires intersection causing access issues and congestion
• Tapleys Hill Road/Trimmer Parade intersection should be improved instead
• Concern over amenity/noise impacts of any treatments on Squires
• There are traffic issues on other local streets also
• Concern from residents of other streets that treatments would redirect traffic onto other streets

The project team undertook a detailed analysis into the results and the feedback captured. Half of the total respondents requested that Squires Avenue be left as it is. The other half had divided opinions over a suitable treatment option. The results for those directly affected (on Squires Avenue) were also divided with the highest response being to leave the street as it is, followed closely by speed humps. It was identified that although most residents / homeowners on Squires Avenue wanted traffic calming treatments in Squires Avenue, there was not a clear treatment option to proceed with.

The early community engagement report provides all the results and comments received for the first stage of consultation.

40 km/h Area Speed Limit
A review of the 40 km/h area precincts that have been introduced across the City in the last 8 years will occur in 2019/20 to determine the impacts of the traffic speed and volumes and community perception.

Proposed Traffic Safety Improvement Options
A solid median island will be installed at the intersection of Tapleys Hill Road to separate traffic entering and exiting Squires Avenue and improve safety. This will reduce some on-street parking. Given that a lot of residents wanted traffic calming treatments in Squires Avenue, however there was not a treatment that the community agreed on, we have now developed two Line marking options that could improve safety with line marking. A Linemarking treatment would:

• narrow the travel lanes which may reduce traffic speeds as drivers feel there is less room
• be low cost to install
• not reduce traffic volumes
• not likely have a noticeable impact on driver speeds.
• create ongoing maintenance costs (minimal)

We now seek your views on whether to implement one of the Line Marking options for the remainder of the street, or whether to leave Squires Ave as it is.

To provide your feedback you can:

• View concept plans and their advantages and disadvantages
• Complete the survey online
• Ask staff a question

Consultation closes Friday 31 May 2019.

If a line marking treatment option is supported by the community, it will be implemented as part of the road rehabilitation of Squires Avenue within the 2019/20 financial year. We will write to you again to advise of the outcome of this consultation.