Roy said the area would become more difficult and dangerous for pedestrians, including around North Melbourne Station, with the works set to remove a crossing at the intersection of Dynon Road and Dryburgh Street.
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Three new double-lane, right-hand turns will be introduced on Victoria Street at the intersections with Dryburgh and Abbotsford streets, which Roy said were inappropriate for residential streets.
An existing nearby double-lane turn from King Street onto Curzon Street is notorious for cars mounting the verge, with bike hoops outside the Our Community social enterprise building repeatedly flattened.
“It’s introducing a new risk to the safety of people walking in their neighbourhood,” she said.
Roy said she only knew about the TAP projects because she had worked with the City of Melbourne earlier this year, but other residents would still be in the dark.
“It’s really disrespectful to the local community to deliberately keep them less informed than they need to be,” she said.
Mary Masters, from the North West Melbourne Association, said the TAP fund was quickly running out, with the amount “allocated” to projects recently jumping from $20 million to $46 million.
“There’s been no accountability and no transparency and there’s not going to be any funds left to fix the traffic in six months time when we are actually allowed to spend it,” Masters said.
“How do those William Street raised tram stops address traffic from the West Gate Tunnel Project?”
Roy said that some planned street closures might prevent rat-running, but the absence of communication or consultation meant many residents will be taken by surprise when a local street is suddenly shut off.
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A spokesperson for Williams said traffic movement will be monitored for six months after the toll road opens and community feedback will be collected to assess the interim measures.
“We worked closely with the City of Melbourne on a package of works which include new line markings, adjusted traffic signals and safety bollards at key intersections to keep traffic moving and stop people using local roads as short-cuts,” they said.
The spokesperson confirmed $10.7 million from the TAP program had already been spent on new tram stops on William Street, and bike lanes on La Trobe, Peel and Abbotsford streets.
More than $46 million from the fund has been “allocated” to projects including a Franklin Street streetscape upgrade in the CBD and the Dynon Road Shared User Path, they said.
At a council meeting earlier this month, Greens councillor Olivia Ball put forward a motion requesting a detailed account of the TAP expenditure and commitments to date.
The motion also requested the release of “additional traffic modelling” conducted by the state transport department which had forced council to pause work on TAP projects.
Acting Lord Mayor Roshena Campbell said the state government was delivering the interim works in West Melbourne, and council would continue working with it on projects to stop rat-running and to protect amenity in North and West Melbourne.
“While consultation has been led by the Victorian government, we acknowledge more could have been done to hear from residents before the interim works commenced,” Campbell said.
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