ONE of Port Fairy’s busiest intersections could become the site for the town’s first set of traffic lights.
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Moyne Shire Council this week backed a call from its road focus group for lights at the intersection of the Princes Highway and Regent Street.
The group also suggested that truck parking areas near the intersection should be removed in the meantime.
Councillors voted unanimously to endorse the focus group’s recommendations and will refer the issue to VicRoads.
Group member Cr Mick Wolfe, a police sergeant, said heavy traffic made the corner a high-risk area.
“We all know that at times it is a really bad intersection to get across,” Cr Wolfe said.
“There is very little history at the intersection as far as serious collisions go but that doesn’t mean we have to wait for one to happen before making it safer.
“I know at the moment some people dodge having to use the intersection and go the long way around and use other streets to get across the highway.”
He said the combination of busy highway traffic, vehicles leaving the adjoining service station, and parked trucks blocking sight lines for drivers created a high-risk area worthy of traffic lights.
Cr Jim Doukas, who is also on the group, described traffic lights as a “good long-term solution”.
“There is a real issue there at the moment, especially for people who are coming from Orford Road and turning on to or trying to cross the highway,” Cr Doukas said.
“The moving of the truck parking area needs to happen soon. I know it is a well-used place by the truckies but we have to look at finding somewhere else for them to stop.”
Cr Doukas said the installation of traffic lights would also improve safety for pedestrians crossing the highway.
He said a pedestrian crossing was installed along the highway in 2005, but many people still crossed at Regent Street because they did not want to walk further to use the crossing.
Mayor James Purcell said yesterday that traffic lights should have been put in place instead of the pedestrian lights. “There is a real visibility issue at the intersection,” he said.