We're at the halfway mark for the big 1000 free car park plan, with the 400 new spots at the Ballarat Base Hospital to be added to the total.
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Announced last month, a new multi-level car park for staff and visitors will be built as part of the massive half-billion dollar hospital rebuild, including a helipad.
These 400 parks will be "supported" by the state government's Regional Car Parks Fund, first announced during the 2018 state election campaign.
The original promise was for 1000 new and free car parks across the city - after years of planning and consultation, works have finished at White Flat Oval and Eastern Oval, adding 113 parks, and another 36 car parks will soon be added when work begins on Market Street near the Ballarat library.
The White Flat works included formalising existing spaces, while the Market Street tenders, released last month, also include plans to close the street to west-bound traffic and install new raised pedestrian crossings on Creswick Road and Doveton Street.
The "more than 400 spaces" at the hospital will also count towards this total, after consultation revealed hospital precinct was the "top priority" for the community.
This means that almost five years after the announcement, we know where 549 of the 1000 parks will be.
Previously, the state government agency Regional Development Victoria, working with the City of Ballarat, identified potential space at the Little Bridge Street car park, and Anderson Street West.
Another multi-level car park on Armstrong Street South, near Federation University's SMB campus, was also investigated.
It's not clear when the final locations will be revealed.
The Market Street works will also include removing one of the city's most dangerous pedestrian crossings, a set of stairs in front of Ballarat Toyota on Creswick Road that are not compliant with modern Disability Discrimination Act requirements.
The current crossing means anyone who would not be able to easily use the stairs - such as people who use a wheelchair, or people with strollers - who need to cross from the library to Webster Street were often stuck. The new design is for a crossing further back from the roundabout, closer to the library's entrance.
New landscaping will be developed at the closed-off corners.
The plans include 27 angle car parks and four disability permit parks, with the three current parallel parks to remain.
Last year it was revealed the 1000 free new car parks may not remain free forever, with council considering plans to make them paid after a few years.
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