Highgate’s Harold St residents to wait two months for traffic relief after council defers one-way street plan

Residents living on a narrow Highgate street will have to wait at least another two months before relief from traffic issues.

Harold Street — which intersects with Mt Lawley’s restaurant strip on Beaufort Street — has long been a victim of rat runs, speeding and traffic congestion and is classified as a “black spot area”.

But plans to convert the western side of Harold Street from Vincent Street to Beaufort Street into a one-way road — which the city says would “improve traffic flow” and “limit potential conflict points” — have been delayed until at least May.

The new design, which would cost up to $75,000, would mean vehicles turning on to Harold Street from Beaufort Street would not be able to drive through to Vincent Street.

Vehicles entering Harold Street from Beaufort Street would have to turn around or exit via Mereny or Tramway Lane, before Harold Street becomes one-way.

At last Tuesday night’s council meeting, deputy mayor Alex Castle proposed the deferral, saying it would allow time for further community consultation and consideration for a trial.

The deferral was carried unanimously.

“I’m really cognisant that the community is desperate for a solution and I’m not comfortable that we are taking so long with that,” Ms Castle said. “But I also don’t like a proposal that hasn’t got the rest of the precinct planned in it.”

Earlier this year, the city engaged in a four-week community consultation asking residents whether they approved of the western portion of Harold Street becoming one-way.

But despite 57 per cent of respondents saying they did not support the change, city staff said they expected “increased support” once the community began to reap the benefits.

“Although the majority of the community do not support the one-way conversion of Harold Street, administration recognises that Harold Street residents are largely in support,” a staff report reads.

“Administration considers that once the community experiences these benefits, there will be an increased support for future proposed projects.”

Harold Street resident Louise Schneider spoke at an agenda briefing earlier this month and said and the street’s traffic management issues “had not improved”.

“The problems faced by residents of this street have not improved, problems of traffic volume, dangerous driving, traffic congestion, use of the street as a rat run, gridlock, use of rideshare services as a waiting area remain,” Ms Schneider said.

“(Harold Street) is very narrow, making two-way traffic movement difficult and often impossible.

“Unlike many of the nearby streets, there are no adjoining side streets and no real laneway access to any of our properties and this amplifies the traffic management issues we have in our street.”

Mayor Alison Xamon also spoke at last Tuesday night’s council meeting and said there was an “absolute priority” to “get it right”.

“I hear very clearly that this is a priority and I have a great deal of empathy for the view shared by residents as to the risk of a tragedy occurring if we don’t act on this in a timely way,” Ms Xamon said.

“I am supportive of a deferral in order to do more work but I think that on the basis that we are trying to ensure that this is an absolute priority so we feel confident that we’re getting it right, or at least, with a very strong level of support within the community.”

The council has also put forward a proposal to install up to six raised plateau nodes across the Highgate precinct.

The nodes — which are part of the six-year Road Safety Implementation Plan — will cost up to $500,000 each and be implemented across six black spot locations.

“The focus ... is to consider intervention treatments that improve road safety and allow free-flowing traffic to physically slow vehicles and/or reduce traffic volumes around problem areas,” a staff report reads.

A report will come back before council in May.