There is a renewed drive for change to traffic in the CBD with Warrnambool's pedestrian crossings labelled one of the "worst decisions" of council.
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Motorist Gavan Nevill brought the issue back into the spotlight at Monday's public meeting where it was revealed councillors had already raised the issue with council staff.
Mr Nevill asked during public question time whether any of the councillors or senior staff had spent any time observing the traffic "chaos" caused by the pedestrian-priority roundabout over the Christmas holiday period.
"I did, and on many occasions I witnessed the back-up of vehicles the length of a block," he said.
"On one occasion on the corner of Liebig and Lava streets, cars were at a standstill for almost a block in four directions.
"This would surely have to be one of the worst decisions by the council of that time."
Mr Nevill said the pedestrians crossings - which were introduced during the multi-million-dollar redevelopment of the CBD - were touted as being a trial.
"In my opinion, the trial has failed," he said.
"Commonsense, mathematics and now experience shows it doesn't work."
Mr Nevill asked if there was any member of the council body willing to "revisit, reappraise and develop an alternative to overcome this problem?".
He said he believed the crossings were more detrimental to the regrowth of the CBD than any parking issues that existed.
The council's acting chief executive officer Vikki King said the topic of pedestrian crossings had been raised in councillor discussions in late 2020.
She said as a result the council's city infrastructure team was preparing a presentation with a representative of Victoria Walks.
Ms King said there would be follow-up presentations if they were needed to enable councillors to make an informed decision regarding any future traffic management options for the CBD.
In 2018, now councillor Angie Paspaliaris led a campaign against the installation of the pedestrian crossings at the city's roundabouts.
The petition against calling for their removal attracted almost 6000 signatures with many people opposed to pedestrian crossings at roundabouts because they believed they were dangerous and forced motorists to stop suddenly, causing traffic to build up.
The new pedestrian crossings were introduced as a way of making the CBD more pedestrian-friendly in a bid to increase foot traffic for struggling businesses.
The new look was part of the disruptive $15 million makeover of Liebig Street, the costs of which blew out by about $3 million after ageing and failing drainage was discovered under the road.
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