A SPEED cut at a notorious Remembrance Drive intersection, which last year claimed the life of a woman, will be the centre piece of a raft of changes to the road to be announced today by the state government.
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The Cardigan intersection at Madden Road will have its speed limit reduced from 80km/h to 60km/h, while rumble strips will also be installed, as well as more signage alerting drivers to the new limits.
However, the changes have stopped short of the installation of a roundabout, something councillor and Avenue of Honour committee member Daniel Moloney has long called for.
Roads Safety Minister Jaala Pulford said the time had come to do something about the notorious stretch of road, in which there had been 10 accidents in three years. She said the changes would be in place within weeks.
"These safety measures balance the need to improve safety along Remembrance Drive while minimising any impact on the heritage of the Avenue of Honour," Ms Pulford said.
Between 2015 and 2018 crashes have resulted in 18 serious injuries and the death in hospital of a Singapore national involved in a crash in November last year.
After that crash late last year, Cr Moloney said, "one of the reasons why the Avenue is so successful and one of the longest in the world is because there's been constant adaptions as cars and populations have increased".
"There's been the additions of three sets of traffic lights, the duplicated road at the arch, there's been intersections where the trees have been set back.
"We've proven it can be done in a sympathetic way and a roundabout does make a lot of sense, you could do it in a way that's safe and respects the integrity of the avenue.
Ballarat Avenue of Honour committee president Garry Snowden said: "We recognised that something needed to be done to address the number of crashes that were taking place, and we feel that these improvements will do that".
These safety measures balance the need to improve safety...while minimising any impact on the heritage of the Avenue of Honour
- Roads Minister Jaala Pulford
Ms Pulford said a working group would continue to monitor the intersection to see if further safety upgrades, including a roundabout was required.
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