Pedestrian bridge is safer option

By Melissa Donchi
PEDESTRIANS in Healesville wanting to cross between Queens Park and the East End have the odds stacked against them.
Ian Pike works at the Great Australian Ice-Creamery, which looks out over the park and says he is worried about the amount of people stranded between the street and the park.
“Pedestrians have two choices really, they can either scramble across a couple of unsteady rocks along the creek or run across a busy highway,” Mr Pike said.
“Both of the options sound a bit dangerous to me, not to mention totally inconvenient.”
The Ice-Creamery is located at the East End next to Giant Steps and the Beechworth Bakery, all of which attract a large volume of people many of whom are tourists.
“For locals it’s just a major inconvenience to have to walk in a giant circle just to get somewhere, but the tourists quite literally don’t know where to go and how to get there.”
Mr Pike says he sees people every day trying to get between the park and the street and each time they choose to go across the creek or the highway.
“It’s only a matter of time before someone is seriously injured,” Mr Pike said.
“Every time I look out my shop window I see either queues of people trying to jump across the creek or skidding across the highway.”
Just last week Mr Pike saw two women with prams poised at the roadside ready to hurtle themselves across the road between oncoming cars.
“It’s pretty obvious to everyone in this town what needs to be done,” Mr Pike said.
“All we need is a little bridge over the creek so people can cross safely.”
A Shire of Yarra Ranges spokesperson James Martin said the shire would be happy to consider a proposal for a footbridge in the broader context of Healesville’s future needs.
“While it looks like a good idea there would be significant cost implications,” Mr Martin said.
“A pedestrian bridge in that location would need to be built to meet flood requirements, making it a fairly expensive exercise.
“It would need to be assessed alongside other town priorities.”
Councillor Janette McRae also said she would be happy to work with concerned parties to discuss funding options.