Her Way 2680 Implementation Phase Begins

The Her Way 2680 project is moving into the implementation phase. This initiative is aimed at enhancing the perception of safety for girls, women and gender-diverse people in Griffith’s CBD.

Griffith City Council has partnered with Transport for NSW on the Safer Cities: Her Way Program, which aims to make public spaces around transport hubs feel safer for everyone, particularly girls, women and gender-diverse people.

Feedback received from the community via a survey conducted during February and March identified the CBD to Coolah Street precinct as an area that required attention.

A vital aspect of the project involved community engagement through walk-shops and co-design sessions.

Four walk-shops, which took place along a predefined route in the CBD to Coolah precinct, were attended by 56 participants.

These walks were conducted during both daylight and night-time hours to provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of the precinct at different times during the day.

In addition, 53 participants actively contributed to the four co-design sessions.

These sessions included creative exercises and resulted in over 600 individual responses.

Involvement in the sessions was open to the public, female students from Murrumbidgee Regional High School and stakeholders, ensuring a diverse range of perspectives were considered during the design process.

Griffith Mayor, Doug Curran said he was pleased to see the project’s progression.

“This project will have such a positive impact on the comjmunity because it will significantly improve safety for people in our city,” Mayor Curran said.

“I’d like to acknowledge the valuable contributions made by members of the community during the consultation phase.

“Schools, community groups, and individuals all participated actively, providing invaluable insights that have helped shape the project’s scope and direction.”

Building upon the information gathered from the community consultation, the Her Way 2680 team has developed a project plan that focuses on trialling the key components identified as unsafe and in need of attention.

These include the installation of gender sensitive lighting, installation of way-finding signage, upgrades to pedestrian bridges, murals and public art, increasing amenity of bus shelters, new landscaping, street furniture, footpaths and a new gathering space.

The project will now progress to the implementation phase, with the development of a concept plan.

Quotes will be sought for the necessary assets and upgrades required to trial the identified upgrades and make public spaces feel safer and more enjoyable for all.

The Her Way 2680 team will evaluate the success of the trial interventions once they have been implemented.

Collaboration and stakeholder engagement are recognised as highly important by the Her Way 2680 project, so Murrumbidgee Irrigation (MI) has been identified as a key stakeholder and Council staff are working closely with MI representatives to achieve mutually acceptable outcomes.

• Topics:

• Public Safety
• Community