"I just love working with proactive community groups that have a focus on improving pedestrian safety, especially around school zones."
ENCAT manufactured, supplied and installed new Pedestrian Fencing in Boorowa NSW for Hilltops Council. The sites were located at the busy Boorowa Central and St Josephs Primary Schools who had received approval to install pedestrian fencing on the verge are on both sides of each school’s main road.
This forms part of a program for schools across southern NSW who are receiving almost $7 million in government funding to make them more safely accessible. The project will see more than 350 schools across regional and rural NSW will benefit from the School Zone Infrastructure Sub Program.
The goal of course is to help improve safety around the school area by creating safer pedestrian connections for children, their parents and carers in the school community for things like footpaths, bus zones, flashing lights, wombat crossings and more.
Boorowa is a beautiful regional town located about an hour or so away from Goulburn. Boorowa is a farming village in the Hilltops Region in the south west of New South Wales famous for its merino will.
Like most regional towns it has wonderful wide roads that are the equivalent to a six lane road in most capital cities.
This presents a unique situation for children trying to cross the road from their school to be picked up by their parents. While the town doesn’t have the peak hour traffic of most cities, the wide road presents a hazzard for children trying to cross such a large distance.
The installation of safety islands had improved the situation by reducing the distance to cross the road. Although, children were being observed using the edges of the islands to get to the other side rather than using the crossing.
Pedestrian Fencing installed at school crossings
So yes, the council had already taken steps by installing safety islands either side of the road to make it safer. These designated crossings improved safety for the schools together with the new temporary ‘Children Crossing’ signage posts.
Safety has now been improved even further with the installation of pedestrian fencing on the verge either side of the crossing. The new fence installation creates a visual and physical barrier that will channel students, teachers, parents or carers towards the designated crossing, eliminating any shortcuts.
The climb proof design of the pedestrian fencing will also ensure there is no temptation to try go over it while strong enough to catch an errant vehicle.
One aspect that ENCAT was not engaged for was the channel between the gutter & the new safety island that helps to maintain stormwater drainage.
This gap can create a potential trip hazard. While there was a small piece of yellow gutter bridge installed at the centre, there is plenty of space either side for someone to step into the gutter.
ENCAT has a Gutter Bridge product that makes it possible to cover the entire span. Taking this extra step makes the gap easier to walk over, is safer, while maintaining drainage performance. It can sit flush with the island and the gutter to remove any trip hazzard while enabling wheelchair, stroller or even shopping trolley access if required.
Quite a lot of people think that pedestrian fencing can only be ordered in black. While it is the most popular colour, it is actually possible to get the fence panels in practically any colour required.
In the example below it would have been possible to match the fence panel colour with the historic building to help the installation blend into the area.
Pedestrian fences will improve safety
ENCAT can supply Pedestrian Fencing to local councils or civil works contractors. This could be a shopping centre area, residential development, new road or even a school. No matter the location our civil engineering team can design & manufacture fencing that is suitable.
