Shannon Waters Footpath Proposal

The Shannon Waters Housing Estate is planned to have 650 homes when finished, with more than 1000 people expected to live in the estate. This 1.5km long footpath would connect a major missing link in the current Bairnsdale pedestrian infrastructure. There is Nagle Catholic College, St Mary’s, and Christian College along the route. There is also a bus stop along the route, which is for students going to Bairnsdale Secondary College and Gippsland Grammar. The footpath would also connect to the Main St Service Road. Pedestrians can then walk on this quiet side road, until the Bairnsdale footpath network begins. Through this route, pedestrians from Shannon Waters can fully walk to the Bairnsdale town area while staying on either a footpath or a quiet paved road. You can see an overview of this route on this static map, or on this Google Map.

Despite the amount of pedestrians, there is no footpath. This can result in many issues, particularly regarding safety. Currently, there is no separation between pedestrians and vehicles. In some parts along this route, you are forced to walk very close to the road, as illustrated by these pictures. You have to walk beside vehicles going up to 60km/h, and many of these vehicles are trucks. A 40 km/h school zone is enforced only in a small section of this road. These issues are only exacerbated by the fact that many of these pedestrians are children, which we believe should have a safe footpath to walk to school on.

Currently, along this route, people have to walk over uneven ground, close to noisy vehicles, and over muddy ground when wet. The construction of a footpath would improve the convenience factor, meaning more people would use the route for exercise and for walking into the Bairnsdale town area. A footpath would also improve accessibility for prams, wheelchairs, and children on bikes.

We would appreciate it if you sign this petition to demonstrate community support for the proposed footpath. Sharing it with family, friends and other local residents would also help us reach more people and show the Council the level of interest in this project. 

NOTE: 
East Gippsland Shire Council's Petition Rules state that addresses are required for petitioners, as stated here. For this reason, we are collecting the residential address of each person signing the petition. You do not need to create an OpenPetition account to sign this petition, however your email address is required for verification and to make sure it is a real signature. After signing, you should recieve an email confirming your signature. If you do not verify your signature via email it will NOT be counted.

Quick Links:
Map Overview of Footpath Proposal
Google Map of Footpath Proposal
Examples of Unsafe Areas along the Route