By PETER DOUGLAS
AFTER six years of advocacy, Yarra Valley Nursery Disability Manager, Karen Dettmann, will soon witness a major safety boost along a notorious stretch of York Road, Mount Evelyn.
Both staff at Yarra Valley Nursery and students at Mount Evelyn Christian School will soon have access to pedestrian-operated traffic lights, which represents a significant upgrade to the York Road crossing, located between Karen Court and Hawkins Road.
The upgrade comes after Monbulk MP James Merlino announced $490,000 for the project last Friday, 10 June.
Ms Dettmann said the community had long held concerns that staff with disabilities from the nursery are at risk, when a school crossing supervisor isn’t present.
Yarra Valley Nursery employs around 100 staff, many of whom have a disability.
She said there had been some incidents previously on that stretch of road.
“I represent the disabled people – you can see how hard it is to cross that road,” she said.
“And if you can’t cross that road with a wheelchair or a walking stick, how do you have the dignity to come to work?
“I instigated it probably about six years ago, I’ve just been putting pressure all the time and supporting the school.
“Yarra Ranges Council has been excellent, now we thank the government for their efforts.”
Ms Dettman, who is retiring from her role with Yarra Valley Nursery after 38 years, said she couldn’t wait to see the project realised.
The crossing is also a major safety boost for the school, particularly during drop-off and pick-up times.
At the announcement, Member for the Eastern Metropolitan Region, Shaun Leane, said it would be much safer to cross the busy road.
“It serves two purposes – one will be safety and the other it will slow things down a bit,” he said.
“Congratulations to everyone who has been advocating for it, it’s an enormous result.
“People will be so much safer going into the future.”
Meanwhile, Mr Merlino said the project would bring about positive outcomes.
“We know the community is concerned about this stretch of road,” he said.
“We’ve listened and we’re taking action.
“York Road has over 25,000 vehicles travelling on it every day and we’re doing the work to look after some of our community’s most vulnerable pedestrians and road users.”
