HAMPTON ROAD will get a $700,000 signalised pedestrian crossing if Labor is re-elected at the state election, according to local member Simone McGurk.
The road has long been a hotspot for accidents and near misses involving pedestrians trying to cross, many to the nearby Beaconsfield Primary School.
The signalised crossing will be installed in the area between Lloyd and Jenkins Streets on Hampton, which will service the Primary School and South Fremantle Shopping Centre.
In a press statement released this week, Ms McGurk says she has been “working closely” with the school community after a spate of incidents including two students hit by cars while crossing guards were present.
• Simone McGurk and police minister Paul Papalia during a recent police blitz at the dangerous crossing.
“The Beaconsfield Primary School community specifically identified a signalised pedestrian crossing as their number one priority, and I am happy to be able to deliver this,” Ms McGurk said.
“Hampton Road is not classed as a ‘major’ road, so the City of Fremantle is responsible for its management and maintenance, not the state government.
“The City outlined that it was not financially able to fund the required works, so I therefore strongly advocated within government for this key funding.”
Beaconsfield Primary P&C president Anne Cameron says the announcement was a “huge relief” to the school community
“As parents, we are just counting down until someone gets seriously hurt or dies trying to cross the road, so for us to have the signalised crossing there is really exciting,” Ms Cameron said.
“We’ve had so many meetings about it, and I suppose we’d given up on it ever happening… quite often we’ve had these meetings and we haven’t had the right people there and it went round in circles and nothing happens.
“I’m quite impressed by [Ms McGurk’s] determination, because we had our last meeting in early December and the fact that she’s managed to the $700,000 into the budget is amazing.”
Ms Cameron says the P&C and wider school community will be keeping a watchful eye on the signal crossing being built once the election is over.
“We’d really like to see it installed and working within the next financial year,” she told the Herald.
by KATHERINE KRAAYVANGER