Residents of Sunshine’s Phoenix Street are calling for a “dangerous” laneway alongside Bunnings Warehouse to be significantly overhauled.
They say the laneway is being used by motorists avoiding the notorious intersection at Ballarat and McIntyre roads.
One concerned resident said it was only a matter of time until disaster struck and that he had asked for the laneway’s access to Phoenix Street to be closed.
He said an incident involving a truck at the site recently had heightened his fears.
A truck became stuck, narrowly missing a fence of a neighbouring childcare centre.
“It’s just so unsafe,” said the resident. “The petrol leaking from that truck endangered not only the children at the childcare centre next door, but also other houses in the street.
“At the moment, cars are just going everywhere.”
Residents have asked for a steel barrier to be installed to stop further incidents and for additional signage to be put in place.
Bunnings property general manager Andrew Marks said the company had made some safety upgrades following the incident.
“We are aware of an incident involving a truck near the goods inwards area of our Sunshine store,” he said.
“As a result, we have installed signage in the area and added line-marking arrows to ensure drivers safely navigate through the area.
“We are currently investigating any further improvements that can be made.”
Brimbank city development director Stuart Menzies said the council was aware of the issue.
“The redevelopment and expansion of the Bunnings store in Sunshine has changed access arrangements at the site,” Mr Menzies said.
“Council is working closely with Bunnings to address the access issues at Phoenix Street and ensure people can access the site safely and efficiently.
“There has been a request to install bollards … but we are not aware of any requests for barriers to protect residents on Phoenix Street.”
