About a month ago I received a brochure on the Fitzsimons Lane Update in the mail. I'm interested in changes in the area which may impact me so I watch out for changes. Even though this brochure states there's been extensive community communication, this was the first time I'd heard of the changes and that appears true of others I spoke or heard from.
I've broken this post into three. One for the Fitzsimons Lane and Main Road roundabout Eltham, one for Fitzsimons Lane and Porter Street Templestowe and one for Williamsons Road and Foote Street Templestowe. This is so if there's any comments people can make comments on the specific intersection.
Details of the project are available from the Major Road Projects Victoria website at https://roadprojects.vic.gov.au/projects/northern-roads-upgrade/fitzsimons-lane
Last night I attended an open meeting where people could meet with and discuss their concerns with MRPV staff and see more detailed plans. I had an excellent conversation with a staff member and whilst I felt happy with the answers, in hindsight I can see issues that concern me. I can see others had their own issues and concerns.
My aim here is to share the issues I feel exist with the current roundabout and how this has changed with the proposed design. Over the 30 years I've lived in Templestowe I've used the Eltham roundabout hundreds if not thousands of times. The following are the issues I've had.
1. Turning left into Main Road from Fitzsimons Lane heading north and going west. There are two slip lanes going into Main Road. The main issue is drivers in the right hand slip lane drive into the left hand lane of Main Road and cut off drivers in the left slip lane. To fix this broken lines should direct the second slip lane into the second lane of Main Road.
The new design fixes this issue by providing marked lanes. The left lane goes into the left, the right into the right the center goes into two lanes, one for straight ahead and one for turning right. This fixes the issue so drivers know which lane to go into. However, I can see drivers not knowing ahead of time which lane they should be in and trying to move across cutting off other cars. At least overall its better.
2. I've heard a number of people coming from Main Road Eltham which then goes into Fitzsimons Lane having this issue. There's three lanes at this point in Main Road at the roundabout. The left lane goes into Fitzsimons Lane, the middle lane into Fitzsimons Lane or continues on Main Road, the right lane continues on Main Road. The problem isn't here it starts further back. Driving along Main Road there's two lanes, as the lanes split into three the left lane becomes the only left into Fitzsimons Lane. This is unexpected and people travelling on a two lane road, Main Road, that continues on a two lane road, Main Road, don't expect the lane to change. What should happen is the two lanes on Main Road goes straight on to Main Road and the left lane should open up with dashed lines. That way people knowing move into the left lane. The issue becomes because people have ended up in the left lane they cut across the people in the centre because they think they continue on Main Road, but they cut across people in the centre lane who are now going into Fitzsimons Lane creating a conflict and potential for a crash. This is very poor road design.
The new design fixes this issue with lanes continuing as they would be expected to.
3. Heading east along Main Road to turn right at the roundabout into Fitzsimons Lane to continue on to Templestowe. The traffic here is often very bad, particularly late afternoon. The delay can be considerable.
If the new design aims to improve the traffic flow and works then this delay should be shorter. However since no information is provided in terms of expected delays or timing, to rely on trust alone is difficult. We can only hope the delay is reduced.
4. Exiting from the Woolworths Petrol turning left onto Main Road is often a matter of running the gauntlet. It really isn't good. The roundabout design means there's an almost constant flow of traffic and it is difficult to exit the petrol station.
The new design may make this worse because there's now a slip lane meaning potentially no breaks in traffic heading west to east on Main Road. This is worse than the current situation which is already bad.
5. Turning right from Main Road into Fitzsimons Lane there's often small issues. Cars don't stick to lanes. Cars from Main Road heading west cut into the roundabout when they should give way. To me roundabouts are a terrible road feature because people don't do what they should .
Most of these issues go in the new design as lanes are clearly designed and traffic is stopped by lights so people don't cut in front of others without clearly breaking the law.
Conclusion
Overall I see the new design removes two poor design issues (which could also be easily removed with fixing lane markings). To me these are very real safety issues. Replacing the roundabout with traffic lights would not be required to fix this issue. However, the main issue the traffics hopefully can improve is the delay on Main Road heading east to turn right into Fitzsimons Lane.
I really only turn left from Fitzsimons Lane into Main Road and from Main Road right into Fitzsimons Lane, so these really are the only issues I have clear experience with. I don't turn left often from Main Road into Fitzsimons Lane so this is not an issue personally to me. Exiting the Woolworths Petrol station is an issue. The time delay heading east on Main Road turning right into Fitzsimons Lane is a considerable delay. The new design should improve most of these issues.
Kelvin Eldridge
Please feel free to add your experiences of this intersection using the comments.
I've broken this post into three. One for the Fitzsimons Lane and Main Road roundabout Eltham, one for Fitzsimons Lane and Porter Street Templestowe and one for Williamsons Road and Foote Street Templestowe. This is so if there's any comments people can make comments on the specific intersection.
Details of the project are available from the Major Road Projects Victoria website at https://roadprojects.vic.gov.au/projects/northern-roads-upgrade/fitzsimons-lane
Last night I attended an open meeting where people could meet with and discuss their concerns with MRPV staff and see more detailed plans. I had an excellent conversation with a staff member and whilst I felt happy with the answers, in hindsight I can see issues that concern me. I can see others had their own issues and concerns.
My aim here is to share the issues I feel exist with the current roundabout and how this has changed with the proposed design. Over the 30 years I've lived in Templestowe I've used the Eltham roundabout hundreds if not thousands of times. The following are the issues I've had.
1. Turning left into Main Road from Fitzsimons Lane heading north and going west. There are two slip lanes going into Main Road. The main issue is drivers in the right hand slip lane drive into the left hand lane of Main Road and cut off drivers in the left slip lane. To fix this broken lines should direct the second slip lane into the second lane of Main Road.
The new design fixes this issue by providing marked lanes. The left lane goes into the left, the right into the right the center goes into two lanes, one for straight ahead and one for turning right. This fixes the issue so drivers know which lane to go into. However, I can see drivers not knowing ahead of time which lane they should be in and trying to move across cutting off other cars. At least overall its better.
2. I've heard a number of people coming from Main Road Eltham which then goes into Fitzsimons Lane having this issue. There's three lanes at this point in Main Road at the roundabout. The left lane goes into Fitzsimons Lane, the middle lane into Fitzsimons Lane or continues on Main Road, the right lane continues on Main Road. The problem isn't here it starts further back. Driving along Main Road there's two lanes, as the lanes split into three the left lane becomes the only left into Fitzsimons Lane. This is unexpected and people travelling on a two lane road, Main Road, that continues on a two lane road, Main Road, don't expect the lane to change. What should happen is the two lanes on Main Road goes straight on to Main Road and the left lane should open up with dashed lines. That way people knowing move into the left lane. The issue becomes because people have ended up in the left lane they cut across the people in the centre because they think they continue on Main Road, but they cut across people in the centre lane who are now going into Fitzsimons Lane creating a conflict and potential for a crash. This is very poor road design.
The new design fixes this issue with lanes continuing as they would be expected to.
3. Heading east along Main Road to turn right at the roundabout into Fitzsimons Lane to continue on to Templestowe. The traffic here is often very bad, particularly late afternoon. The delay can be considerable.
If the new design aims to improve the traffic flow and works then this delay should be shorter. However since no information is provided in terms of expected delays or timing, to rely on trust alone is difficult. We can only hope the delay is reduced.
4. Exiting from the Woolworths Petrol turning left onto Main Road is often a matter of running the gauntlet. It really isn't good. The roundabout design means there's an almost constant flow of traffic and it is difficult to exit the petrol station.
The new design may make this worse because there's now a slip lane meaning potentially no breaks in traffic heading west to east on Main Road. This is worse than the current situation which is already bad.
5. Turning right from Main Road into Fitzsimons Lane there's often small issues. Cars don't stick to lanes. Cars from Main Road heading west cut into the roundabout when they should give way. To me roundabouts are a terrible road feature because people don't do what they should .
Most of these issues go in the new design as lanes are clearly designed and traffic is stopped by lights so people don't cut in front of others without clearly breaking the law.
Conclusion
Overall I see the new design removes two poor design issues (which could also be easily removed with fixing lane markings). To me these are very real safety issues. Replacing the roundabout with traffic lights would not be required to fix this issue. However, the main issue the traffics hopefully can improve is the delay on Main Road heading east to turn right into Fitzsimons Lane.
I really only turn left from Fitzsimons Lane into Main Road and from Main Road right into Fitzsimons Lane, so these really are the only issues I have clear experience with. I don't turn left often from Main Road into Fitzsimons Lane so this is not an issue personally to me. Exiting the Woolworths Petrol station is an issue. The time delay heading east on Main Road turning right into Fitzsimons Lane is a considerable delay. The new design should improve most of these issues.
Kelvin Eldridge
Please feel free to add your experiences of this intersection using the comments.
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