Queens Park Road danger to pedestrians

A lack of appropriate footpaths along Queens Park Road and Baronga Avenue is endangering the lives of students and residents according to locals.

After years of campaigning long time resident Chris O’Sullivan says nothing has been done to improve the conditions of the path that surrounds the park from the corner of Bourke Street and Queens Park Road around to the entrance of Moriah College on Baronga Ave.

Mr O’Sullivan said the lack of initiative on the part of local and state governments defied common sense.

“Queens Park Road is a hugely busy road,” Mr O’Sullivan said. “It’s a bus route, a cycle track and it’s where everyone parks either to go into Queens Park for sport or to go to Moriah College, which is a busy school.”

He fears an accident will occur on the stretch of road when simple actions could be taken to prevent further danger to pedestrians.

The strip of land adjoining Queens Park Road with the park is currently patchy grass with pockmarks of muddy and rocky dips, many of which have been filled intermittently with logs of timber, palm tree branches and building tiles.

Along the strip is a bus stop for the 357 bus route from Sydenham to Bondi Junction. Car spaces along the park are normally filled on weekdays and a cycle lane connects the car parks to the road proper.

When heavy rain occurs parents are forced onto the road with prams and school children can be seen walking two abreast to school prompting yells from cyclists and klaxons from motorists.

Mr O’Sullivan said the best solution would be to extend a concrete path from the Bourke St corner all the way down to the dressing sheds located at the pedestrian crossing that serves Moriah College on Baronga Ave.

Waverley Mayor Sally Betts said she was aware of the issue and was waiting on a reply from the Centennial Parklands Trust (CPT) in regards to an extension of the cycleway within Queens Park to the Bourke St entrance.

“Once they [the CPT] extend the bike path then students and parents can use it,” Councillor Betts said.

The mayor explained that while they were waiting for a reply, it would be wasteful to lay down a path outside the park only to have it duplicated by the bike path. Mr O’Sullivan believes the council is missing the point.

“The bike path inside Queens Park is well away from where everybody parks, where it is needed,” he said.

“Unless they take the fence surrounding the park down, any talk of extending the bike path is irrelevant.”

– By Liam Kinkead