We’re transforming our Little Streets to create more space for people to walk, shop and dine.

From Little Lonsdale to Flinders Lane, we’re upgrading our busiest little streets to improve safety and amenity for all road users. We asked people to provide feedback on the proposed Little Streets transformation.

The Little Streets transformation survey opened in December 2020 and we received 122 written responses.

Respondents who supported the project said:

• “I think it is great that Melbourne is taking steps in this direction, thank you!”
• “The changes to Flinders Lane are already very impressive so keep up the good work!”
• “I support the Little Streets initiative and think it will do great things for liveability of our streets.”
• “I would love to see additional programs to further improve the walkability around the city.”
• “I love the greening of Melbourne and what we need is more bike infrastructure, more greenery, more pedestrian-priority and less car-centric infrastructure using up precious expensive public land.”
• “The pop up dining areas are fantastic and should be permanent, however the road surface should be changed / redesigned to make it more pedestrian friendly.”
• “Claiming the spaces for residents and people to use rather than as a car park is fantastic.”

Some concerns respondents had include:

• “It actually feels less safe because of all the building works going on and encroaching onto the roads.”
• “The shared road rule is not followed by motorists.”
• “I don't feel safe walking on the road because I don't think drivers really know that it's a shared zone and they would most likely honk and get angry if there are pedestrians blocking their way.”
• “Currently pedestrians are crammed onto small footpaths, and are unable to actively use the shared roadspace due to drivers refusing to acknowledge that it is a shared zone.”
• “The biggest issue at this stage is that people's behaviours are not changing enough to embed the desired effect the council is going for.”
• “If a street is continually crisscrossed by old, uneven bluestone access lanes, it's not accessible.”
• “It would be unfortunate if all parking spots were removed because residents need couriers, cleaners and other contractors to park somewhere.”
• “When driving down Little Bourke Street on the weekend, I found that the signage was not prominent enough to notify me, as a driver, that pedestrians have priority.”
• “One thing I know is a serious barrier to access though, from talking to friends who use wheelchairs and power scooters, is lumpy bluestone pavers.”

This feedback has helped inform our designs and rollout of our Little Streets streetscape upgrades. Two projects are currently underway – you can view the designs and find out more about each by clicking the link to each project’s webpage:

• Little Lonsdale Street
• Little Bourke Street

Most respondents were supportive of making our Little Streets safer for all road users, particularly pedestrians. To that end, the main concern that respondents had was that it was not clear enough to drivers nor pedestrians that Little Streets were now shared zones. This was also found in the Little Streets Shared Zone review carried out by an external consultant in November 2022.

With the rollout of each Little Street streetscape upgrade since this survey was opened, we have addressed these concerns by making infrastructure upgrades that aim to slow driver speeds and create more space for pedestrians. These include:

• widening footpaths and raising crossings to create shared zones.
• widening certain footpaths and upgrading the bluestone where needed.
• implementing additional surface treatments, road humps, street network adjustments and signage and line markings to slow driver speeds and discourage through traffic.

Additionally, we continue to make amenity improvements to our Little Streets by planting more trees, adding planter boxes and creating more public seating.

If you have any question or want to know more about this project please get in touch.