We're working to improve Victoria Street in Brunswick, both in its function as a route to travel, and as a destination for businesses, parks, sporting facilities, and more. This is our first project in our new Streets for People program.

What we're doing

Victoria Street in Brunswick is one of Merri-bek’s major local roads, and is an important route for travel around Merri-bek for virtually all road users. It provides access to employment, parklands, shopping, and other public transport networks.

However, the current design of the street makes it difficult for people to walk or ride bikes.

We’re working to improve this important street by designing safer bike lanes, increasing greenery in the area, improving bus stop facilities, and creating a safer on-road environment for all road users.

Why we're doing this

This project was initially identified as an important network improvement in our 10 year capital works program for walking and cycling following 2 rounds of community engagement, completed in 2022.

In 2023, we heard from our community about the difficulties using this street and the need for protected bike lanes as part of the community engagement for the 2023/2024 Council Budget.

Following the strong community advocacy campaign, Council resolved to bring forward work on the development of these concept designs to the 2023/2024 financial year.

Proposed designs

We’ve created 2 concept designs to make these improvements to Victoria Street, between Pearson Street and Sydney Road. These are plans with our ideas for the street, and are indicative of what the development may look like, not final designs. Your feedback on these concepts will help us shape a final design.

We want to know what you think of our 2 concepts and your experiences using Victoria Street. When you've reviewed our designs, please complete the survey below to share your feedback.

The designs are summarised below. For more detailed information on the designs, and to view the images in a bigger format for easier reading, please refer to the Concept Design Pack in the Document Library on this page.

    • Protected one-way bike lanes on both sides of Victoria Street running from Pearson Street to Sydney Road
    • Increased greening and tree planting opportunities
    • Bike lane style is both the easiest to ride on for riders, and safer when other road users cross the lane
    • High impact parking reallocation, but parking mostly retained on south side of the street
    • Boosts Healthy Streets score from 20 to 44

    • Protected two-way bike lanes on south side of Victoria Street, between the Upfield Line and Pearson Street
    • Protected one-way bike lanes on both sides of Victoria Street between the Upfield Line and Sydney Road
    • Significantly increased greening and tree planting opportunities
    • Less user-friendly bike lane design compared to Concept design 1
    • Very high impact parking reallocation, but parking mostly retained on north side of the street
    • Boosts Healthy Streets score from 20 to 46

  • Both designs incorporate

    • Upgrades to existing pedestrian crossings to improve safety and an additional zebra crossing
    • Improved safety at the side street intersections, particularly for people walking and riding
    • Wider footpaths near Sydney Road to create more space for on-street dining, tree planting opportunities, and a better walking environment
    • Bus stops upgrades to improve bus reliability and ease of access for people entering and exiting the bus, and to be compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)
  • Street greening and tree planting
  • Footpath improvements
  • Other street amenities such as seats, street lighting, bike parking, information, etc.
  • Location of pedestrian crossings
  • Type of pedestrian crossings
  • Location of safe bike lanes
  • Specific car parking requirements
  • This design will include separated bike lanes through the project area in order to create a safe and comfortable environment for people to ride bikes. Due to the volume and speed of vehicles, and the strategic importance on this street, other kinds of bike lanes are not appropriate for this location
  • The bluestone gutter will be maintained in the design, although there may be small sections where bluestone is required to be removed
  • The bus stop design
  • Lane widths, linemarking and technical elements of road layout. These will be determined by transport engineers based on standards, best practice guidelines, and site constraints