Community to benefit from improvements to two Box Hill intersections

Two Box Hill intersections will be significantly improved as part of the Victorian Coalition Government’s Safer Road Infrastructure Program, Member for Box Hill Robert Clark announced today.

Mr Clark said the $250,000 project at the intersection of Station Street and Thames Street and the $136,000 project at the intersection of Station Street and Whitehorse Road will improve driver and pedestrian safety.

“In the five years to December 2013, there were 12 casualty crashes at the Station Street/Thames Street intersection, including five serious injury crashes,” Mr Clark said.

“Four of these crashes were caused by right turning traffic colliding with through traffic on Station Street.

“As a result, upgrades to the site will include traffic signal modifications to control the right turn from Station Street, to reduce the risk of further accidents.”

Mr Clark said the intersection of Whitehorse Road and Station Street had seen seven casualty crashes in the same period, also due to drivers having trouble selecting safe gaps to turn into Whitehorse Road.

“On top of that, drivers are also failing to give way to pedestrians crossing at the north-east corner of the intersection,” Mr Clark said.

“As a result, the traffic signals will be modified to make pedestrians more visible to motorists, and flashing ‘give way to pedestrian’ signs will also be made more prominent.”

Mr Clark said the projects were especially significant given the high volumes of traffic using Station Street and Whitehorse Road, with their close proximity o to the Box Hill activity centre, as well as the Box Hill and Epworth Eastern Hospitals and Box Hill TAFE.

“The Safer Road Infrastructure Program has been designed to deliver smaller, targeted projects that make significant improvements to safety, and that is exactly what these two projects will do,” Mr Clark said.

Work on the intersection of Station Street and Thames Road will start in early 2015 and is due to be completed in mid-2015. Work on the intersection of Whitehorse Road and Station Street will start in late 2014 and will be completed by the end of this year.