In this second week of a new series – which explores planning: our future – we look at traffic and parking.
Phillip Island – and to a lesser extent San Remo – are natural bottlenecks and with the resident and tourist population growing annually, pinch points are quickly seen in congestion on roads and towns. Here we explore the pressures and possible solutions.
Late last year Bass Coast Shire rolled out new one- and two-hour parking limits on Marine Parade in a bid to deal with increasing parking demand.
But many traders said it made operating their enterprises difficult and was resulting in gridlock on side streets such as Wynne, Back Beach and Edgar roads.
Floss Gorsuch, who owns The Wash Shop laundromat, said the new restrictions were unworkable.
“The V-Line bus service now has no parking and the rec centre is 800 metres away. How are the elderly meant to walk that distance? The shire have put no thought into this at all,” she said.
San Remo Fisherman’s Co-op manager Paul Mannix said the new restrictions next to the co-op – five x 1 hour parking limits – were frustrating, especially for staff.
Planning: traffic and parking
It’s a simple formula: more residents and more tourists means more cars, more congestion and more parking problems.
Here are a few other examples of where traffic is reaching a tipping point.