It seems that traffic in Grenville Street North intending to get to Baxter and Stubbs, The Pancake Kitchen or Beechworth Bakery in Grenville Street South must now turn left into the one lane, one way Curtis Street and join the conga line of buses and managing two pedestrian crossings to arrive at Peel Street North.

Then turn right to into Peel Street North with more traffic lights and pedestrians, then continue into Peel Street South, with more traffic controls and then turn right into Little Bridge Street with traffic lights and pedestrian crossings and finally turn left into Grenville South to achieve their goal and arrive at their destination.

The Ballarat City Council is advocating for reductions in emissions to achieve a smaller carbon footprint, but this will double or triple this output with this planned detour.

It now also seems that traffic traveling east in Sturt Street is prohibited from turning right into Grenville Street South and must either enter the new Bridge Street at a reduced speed or follow the other congested traffic into Curtis Street.

It is also planned that if an event is conducted in the Mall/Bridge Street that the entrance can be closed to traffic so this would cause the traffic to further congest the detour.

Previously there was a large conical water feature at the entrance to the Bridge Mall, but after many complaints regarding access to Grenville Street South, the council demolished the fountain and allowed traffic to move directly to Grenville Street South.

Surely we are not going to make the same mistake twice by forcing traffic to unnecessarily detour around the mall area.

Another issue is that some retailers are concerned that after suffering COVID lockdowns that they may not survive the planned eighteen months of construction noise, restrictions and dust.

The proposed design is planning to use bluestone blocks from the now vacant sale yards after detoxing.

These, because they are uneven, usually are noisy when driven over and may cause stability problems for E Scooters, bikes, prams and shopping trolleys.

Recently the council has been increasing traffic congestion by reducing the width of Sturt Street, removing dedicated left hand turn lanes and reducing the middle areas of the intersections.

They have already reduced the number of car parks available for shoppers in the Eastwood Street area and Sturt Street. What about support for traders as it seems the council doesn't want cars in the CBD area.

Finally with the introduction of traffic, it would reduce the "community feel" where local residents come into the mall for some quiet interaction with other similar people and observe and simply say "good day" to each other.

Council should earnestly review the decision to allow traffic into the Mall.

K. Murdoch, Ballarat.

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