News / Road Safety
New road safety push for Ewing Street
Public meeting canvasses ideas to improve safety for cyclists and pedestrians in heavily used Brunswick road
Mark Phillips
BRUNSWICK MP Tim Read doesn’t need to be told about how dangerous it is for pedestrians to cross Brunswick Road where it intersects with Ewing Street.
About 20 years ago, Read’s then-seven-year-old son narrowly avoided being hit by a car that ran through a red light at the crossing. Near-misses like that experienced by Read’s son are far too common, including for a crossing supervisor who has worked there for several decades.
The hazardous crossing was one of a litany of risks that were raised by local residents at a public meeting about Ewing Street organised by Read and Randazzo ward councillor Liz Irvin on Saturday morning.
Almost 50 people attended the meeting at the North Carlton Railway House where they discussed concerns include rat running, excessive traffic and speeding on Ewing Street; and safety at the T-intersections at the Brunswick Road and Glenlyon Road ends of the street.
Ewing Street is just 500 metres in length but as a link between Brunswick Road and Glenlyon Road it is used by large numbers of motor vehicles and cyclists.
According to a traffic survey conducted by Merri-bek Council in 2023, an average of almost 4500 vehicles use the street each week day, peaking at almost 500 vehicles an hour at 5pm. Daily traffic has grown by about 25% over the past decade.
The crossing at Brunswick Road is used by students and parents to get to and from Princes Hill and Brunswick South primary schools.
But as the meeting was told, there is a long history of campaigning for better safety in Ewing Street for well over a decade with mixed results.
Irvin said she first became aware of some of the issues in the Ewing Street corridor when she was running for council last year.
“When I was doorknocking through the council campaign, and since then as well, I noticed Ewing Street was a major issue in this area as were the side streets, especially if accompanying children to school,” she said.
“It was really a priority for me to bring people together to hear what the issues are and go through solutions with them and the council traffic team.”
Ewing Street is controlled by Merri-bek Council but Irvin said no changes could be made to Brunswick Road without the approval and co-operation of VicRoads.
“It gets really complicated when you look at different levels of government and who is responsible for what,” she said.
“Tim and I will be looking at what we can do together, at a council level and also with the state government.”
Over the past 15 years, changes have been made to the area with varying levels of success including attempts to slow cars as they approach roundabouts, speed humps, zebra crossings, and a pedestrian and cyclists refuge in Glenlyon Road at the northern end of Ewing Street.
In 2015 and 2016, following a petition signed by 531 people, the then-Moreland Council conducted a major review of pedestrian and cyclist safety which resulted in the modifications to roundabouts, parking and bike lanes, but rejected a partial road closure. Discussions between the council and VicRoads about modifying the traffic lights at the Brunswick Road intersection never progressed to a concrete proposal.
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The meeting heard that the Brunswick Road pedestrian crossing is particularly dangerous because of its 60kmh speed limit and cars trying to beat the red light. Some regular users believe the risks are exacerbated by the metal “cage” that funnels pedestrians across the road.
Other issues raised at the meeting included poor visibility in Brunswick Road caused by large ironbark trees, the lack of a bike lane in Ewing Street north of Edward Street, and the amount of trucks and heavy vehicles that use the local road network.
Nancy Atkin from the Brunswick Residents Network said an emerging problem was that Google Maps and other navigation software often directed drivers down Ewing Street to avoid Lygon Street and Sydney Road.
Andrea Bunting from Walk On Merri-bek said radical ideas such as closing part of Ewing Street similar to nearby Charles Street should be considered to reduce motor traffic, which “continues to grow year on year”.
There was also discussion about making it illegal to turn right from Glenlyon Road into Ewing Street.
Ewing Street will be part of the 30 kmh trial to be conducted by Merri-bek later this year, and this may dampen the erratic changes in speeds between the roundabouts.
Read said that from the long list of issues identified by the meeting, one quick and cheap solution would be to petition the state government to install a red light camera at the Brunswick Road pedestrian crossing as a step towards changing driver behaviour.
But he said there were no easy fixes and many of the road safety problems in Ewing Street were becoming more commonplace throughout Brunswick.
“Thinking about this beyond just a couple of streets and intersections, there is broader pressure on these inner city neighbourhoods with increasing population, increasing traffic and vehicle sizes and lots of people walking their kids to school,” he said.
Residents who were unable to attend the meeting can still put forward their suggestions through a survey that Read is conducting.
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