The safety of school students in the Hurstville Education Precinct has been upgraded with the installation of new traffic lights on Forest Road and Durham Street. Georges River Council has completed the installation of traffic signals, electrical works and upgrade of the road surface, footpaths and other infrastructure in the area. The installation is part of ongoing safety improvements to the Education Precinct which comprises Hurstville Public School, Georges River College Hurstville Boys Campus, Hurstville Adventist School, Sydney Technical High, Bethany College Hurstville and St Mary's Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School. After a student was killed in a traffic accident outside Hurstville Public School in 2019, the council an community committed to improving safety in the precinct. The council started works in October 2022 and the new traffic lights have now been commissioned. This is in addition to the work done by Transport of NSW to extend the existing 40 kilometre per hour school zones on Forest Road, Wright Street, Durham Street, Crosby Avenue, Ethel Lane and Lily Street to make it safer for students to walk to and from various schools in the precinct. Driver awareness banners have been affixed to the school's surrounding fences along Orange Lane, Kenwyn Street, and Forest Road with messages in English, Mandarin, and Arabic. The banners serve as reminders to road users about the penalties for double parking on streets and speeding within designated school zones. In 2017 an independent traffic study commissioned by Georges River Council identified significant community road safety concerns in the area. Problems identified in the study included inadequate pedestrian crossings for the significant number of pedestrians coming from the high-rise apartments at the southern side of Forest Road, Wright Street and Durham Street intersection. The study recommended modifications to the signalised intersection on Forest Road and Durham Street, installation of new pedestrian safety fences, extensions of the green pedestrian phasing, changes to 'drop off and pick up' zones, 'No Right Turn' installation on Kenwyn Street, heavy vehicle parking restrictions, kerb and gutter realignment upgrades and line marking works. Once the precinct upgrade is complete and users of the area become familiar with the changes, an updated Transport Safety Review will be undertaken, led and funded by the council. This review will take into account future development within the precinct and identify short, medium and longer term safety initiatives and the revised findings will apply to all stakeholders, schools, Council and Transport for NSW (TfNSW). A working group will be created to guide the implementation of the revised recommendations. Georges River Council Mayor Nick Katris said, "It is fantastic to see this important project complete as our community's safety is Council's priority. "This traffic intersection upgrade and the subsequent review is designed to keep students, families, school staff and pedestrians safe in the Hurstville Education Precinct." The decision for upgrades and new Transport Safety Review stemmed from the collaboration of community members, Precinct schools and Council.
