Lynne Brennan said people living in the Ballarat East street had been forced to play “chicken” as they parked and attempted to open their car doors.

She said due to the road’s narrowness, if two vehicles were parked on opposite sides of the street, a car could barely get through, while buses and larger vehicles simply couldn’t fit.

Ms Brennan said Joseph Street also had a steady flow of traffic, with people often speeding through the street.

Many residents resorted to parking on the nature strip, but the City of Ballarat threatened them with fines as nature strips are deemed council land.

“It became an extremely dangerous situation,” Ms Brennan said. “The difficulty for us was that we have four adult children, who each have their own car, so it was impossible for them all to find a car space and I was constantly worried they would accidentally open the door of the car one day and get cleaned up by an oncoming car.”

The council has installed large concrete parking bays that run from the road over the nature strip.

Ms Brennan said the initiative was “fantastic” and had rid the street of all parking and traffic congestion concerns.

However, she said around the corner in Wilson Street, there continued to be similar issues.

“The council really need to do something there as well because the road is even narrower,” she said. 

City of Ballarat city infrastructure general manager Eric Braslis said a section of Joseph Street did not have dedicated parking lanes due to the substantial number of street trees and the existing service infrastructure.

He said the parking problems in the street were further fuelled by a significant crest in the road, which restricted sight lines.

Mr Braslis said traffic congestion was heightened by an urban bus route that ran through the street daily.

melissa.cunningham@fairfaxmedia.com.au