A pathway leading to the Morwell Skate Park will soon be constructed following a funding announcement on Tuesday.
As part of the $105,000 project, two shelters, which include a barbecue area, have already been built and will soon have a footpath leading to them from the Princes Highway and McDonald Street intersection.
Latrobe City mayor Sandy Kam said the pathway would provide a safe route for skaters and families of all ages travelling to the park and the central business district and would address safety concerns by the public.
“It provides a safe access for not only people who want to come to the skate park but further to the CBD, so they’re not walking on the roads and the main part is safety for our community and good linkages,” she said.
“The skate park has been marvellous, the older ones tend to look after the little ones and it’s a place for youth; youth need places to enjoy and this is just one of them and they were actually heavily involved in the design of this so I’m really happy that they’re now actually using it.”
Upon her visit to the park, Cr Kam learned the speed zone in front of the park had changed since the initial design, from 40 kilometres per hour all the time to only during school hours.
She said she would endeavour to lobby VicRoads to have the change reversed or alternatively obtain adequate safety signage.
“We can talk to VicRoads and say now this is a prime area not only in school times, but constantly. For our youth it would be good to see if we could do that and if not, to put up signs to say that there are a lot of pedestrians crossing here,” she said.
“The site is perfect, but if we can extend the times so that this area is (40km per hour) it would be great, if we can’t then we’ll find other ways to forewarn motorists that this is a heavily (trafficked) area.”
State Member for Morwell Russell Northe said the $70,000 State Government contribution in addition to $35,000 from Latrobe City Council allowed pathway construction to go ahead.
“Following construction they’ll be able to use the skate park and link it with the CBD and the northern side of Morwell, so it’s a pretty important project for the Morwell community,” he said.
