Suburbs to go 30km/h under Yarra City Council plan to tackle road safety

Streets in Collingwood and Fitzroy will have a 30km/h speed limit under a plan by Yarra City Council to make the suburbs a haven for cyclists and pedestrians. See the map.

Almost all of Fitzroy and Collingwood will be reduced to a 30km/h zone under a new Yarra City Council plan. Picture: Lawrence Pinder

Almost every road in two inner-city Melbourne suburbs will have a 30km/h limit under a radical plan by Yarra City Council, described by one residents’ group as “anti-car”.

Every street in Fitzroy and Collingwood, except Johnston St, would become 30kmh zones in a trial to improve road safety, especially for cyclists and pedestrians.

The council has yet to set a start date for the trial but would be months away.

Yarra Residents Collective spokesman Adam Promnitz said Yarra was trying to be VicRoads.

“It’s not backed by evidence. Below 40km/h, there’s no proof that there’s any real safety benefit,’’ he said.

The Greens-leaning council has already run a 30kmh trial in northern parts of the two suburbs since 2018.

Yarra council said the latest trial idea was not anti-car or a revenue-raising exercise. It also claimed that support for the slowdown had increased during the previous trial.

“The road safety benefits of 30km/h speed limits are well established,’’ the Yarra report said.

It says pedestrian, cycling and accident research groups favour the slower speeds in residential streets.

The council report said that since May 2018, more than 80 per cent of the 145 crashes on local streets in Fitzroy and Collingwood involved pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and scooter riders.

The area covered by the new trial will be bordered by Nicholson St, Alexandra Parade, Hoddle St and Victoria Parade.

The slowdown is forecast to cause little or no traffic delays, the council report said.

“International research relating to 30km/h speed limits has identified no notable increase to journey times (this is applicable to Yarra as most delays occur at intersections).’’

But Mr Promnitz said slowing traffic on arterial roads such as Langridge St would cause congestion and increase carbon emissions.

Evan Mulholland, Liberal MP for Northern Metropolitan Region, said he was yet to meet anyone who thought the “current glacial pace” of traffic through Yarra was too fast.

“Yarra council is the gateway to and from the CBD for many Melbournians. A thoroughfare council should not be slowing the rest of the state down.”

A Monash University Accident Research Centre study in 2020 into Yarra’s first 30km/h trial found an average speed reduction of just 0.3km/h and an estimated 4 per cent drop to the risk of severe injury to pedestrians.

The result of a pre-trial study will be presented to councillors later this year.

Talks have been held with the Department of Transport and Planning, the Transport Accident Commission, Victoria Police and Yarra Trams.

Yarra was the first council to introduce 40km/h limits in residential streets in 2006, a trend which has become widespread in Melbourne’s inner suburbs.

The City of Melbourne last month turned all streets in North and West Melbourne from 50 to 40kmh, except for a few arterial roads.