Adelaide City Council will speed up plans to install a new pedestrian crossing on a busy North Adelaide street due to safety concerns, amid argument between a councillor and local MP over funding and responsibility.
The council will look at options to install a wombat crossing, which is a raised pedestrian zebra-striped crossing, on Melbourne Street in the 2025/26 financial year.
The crossing is estimated to cost $730,000 and was already part of the council’s $5 million Main Streets Revitalisation Master Plan for Melbourne Street but these upgrades are still years away.
Last night, the council voted to progress the plans for the crossing after hearing that a 14-year-old student was hit in the vicinity of the current crossing on September 9.
“A staff member from Ronald McDonald House attended her, she required an ambulance and was taken to hospital with leg injuries and concussion,” Deputy Lord Mayor Keiran Snape said.
“Fortunately the injuries weren’t critical, but we shouldn’t have to wait until they are.”
Councillor Carmel Noon agreed the spot near Ronald McDonald House is a priority area because “families staying at Ronald McDonald House often include individuals with mobility challenges”.
“Whether they are sick children, elderly family members, or parents carrying infants, a wombat crossing provides a safer more accessible option for crossing the road, especially for those in wheelchairs or strollers, as the wombat crossing is elevated and forces people to slow down and is not reliant on signs,” she said.