Time to fix the “roundabout of death”

We all know the “roundabout of death” in North Melbourne – also known as the "Haymarket intersection".

The Haymarket roundabout is near the Queen Victoria Market. We all know how dangerous it is – and so does the State Labor Government.

But disappointingly, they haven’t done anything about it. Now I’m spearheading a new campaign to change this roundabout to make it safer for cars, pedestrians and cyclists, and create a whole heap of new open space at the same time.

In 2019, the Department of Transport released a major report on the future of the Haymarket precinct. It recommended the immediate “commencement of a design-led masterplan process” to transform the intersection and surrounding boulevards. Seven years later, that transformation still hasn’t happened.

Instead, the same confusing and dangerous layout remains. The Haymarket roundabout on Flemington Rd is widely considered one of Melbourne’s worst intersections, posing serious safety risks for the tens of thousands of vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians who use it every day. Just to walk across the road as a pedestrian sometimes means you have to cross five different crossings!

This is despite Haymarket sitting at the centre of the rapidly growing biomedical precinct, and now directly connected to the new Parkville Metro Tunnel station. That means significantly more pedestrians moving through an intersection that was never designed for this level of foot traffic.

The government knew change was needed. It commissioned the work. But it hasn’t followed through.

At the same time, the government has invested billions in the Metro Tunnel, but there is little that has been spent at street level at this site to make surrounding areas safe and accessible. Surface-level safety and amenity should not be an afterthought.

This is a failure of planning.

You cannot increase pedestrian traffic through major infrastructure projects without redesigning the streets people rely on every day. Safe crossings, simpler layouts and protected bike lanes shouldn’t be optional, and they shouldn’t still be missing.

That’s why I’m calling on the State Government to finally deliver a full redesign of the Haymarket intersection and properly invest in road safety across the precinct.

There is already a very sensible design on the table - backed by the RACV, Yarra Trams, and all the biomedical institutes surrounding the intersection. It works for cars, pedestrians and bikes.

Now all that’s needed is political will by the State Labor Government. •