Max Hatzoglou
After more than six years of advocating for a safer intersection at Hulett Street and Ballarat Road in Albion, residents came together to celebrate the $8 million upgrade, allowing safer crossing by foot on the main road.
Upgrades are underway at the intersection which include traffic light installation and a lengthened speed hump to slow down cars after the upgrade was announced by state and federal government in July last year.
This project comes after a number of accidents occurred at the intersection where people were hit by cars while trying to cross the road.
This included Gary Clancy, a resident from the nearby Sunshine Federation Village, who was hit by a car in 2016 which police treated as a fatal accident.
Clancy spent five years in a wheelchair after the accident and has since progressed to using walking sticks and coming off the wheelchair.
Sunshine Federation Village residents committee chairperson Dave Richardson said the accident sparked them to take action and improve safety for people crossing the road.
“In 2015, that’s when our project began and the man who actually started it all here Gary was in that tragic accident out the front.
“As a result of that, we saw the need to look after everyone in the Albion area and of course mainly the foot traffic people.
“Now we see the reward out the front and I can’t convey enough how great that is not only for the residents in the village but those in the area really now feel safe being able to cross over Ballarat Road.
“We will be forever grateful.”
Richardson mentioned that some residents would catch a bus down the road in order to cross the road at traffic lights.
“We had the embarrassing situation where people would catch a bus out the front here to go to Sunshine so they could walk across the traffic lights there, simply because they were too afraid to cross here at Hulett Street.
St Albans MP Natalie Suleyman thanked Mr Richardson and the residents for their work.
“I would like to first of all thank David, the residents of Federation Village, this has been a partnership and they have been working very hard advocating for a safer intersection not only for the residents of Federation Village but also for the local community.
“It’s wonderful to see the works come to fluorescence.
“This project was in partnership with the federal government so I would like to thank Daniel Mulino.”
Federal MP Daniel Mulino reiterated Suleyman’s words and said it was great to come together for an important issue.
“It’s great to see it coming to fluorescence.
“It’s obviously such a critical issue for this community and particularly coming out of Covid it is fantastic that we’re able to get together today.”
