IN THE COMMUNITY | Making Kyneton Safer for Locals

Mollison Street and Beauchamp Street Intersection Upgrade: Making Kyneton Safer for Everyone

Not every project that Uniform Safety Signs is proud to be part of involves billion-dollar budgets and kilometres of new road. Some of the most meaningful safety work happens right in the heart of a regional community, at intersections that residents have known for years to be dangerous. The Mollison Street and Beauchamp Street intersection upgrade in Kyneton is exactly that kind of project, and it is one we are genuinely pleased to have supported.

The Problem: A Known Crash Location in the Heart of Town

Kyneton is a historic and much-loved regional town in the Macedon Ranges, sitting approximately 86 kilometres north-west of Melbourne on the Calder corridor. Mollison Street is the town’s primary north-south arterial, also known as the Heathcote-Kyneton Road, and it carries a significant volume of through traffic as well as local movement between the town centre and the surrounding residential areas and showgrounds precinct.

The intersection with Beauchamp Street had long been a concern for residents and road safety professionals alike. Beauchamp Street approaches from the east, arriving at Mollison Street from the direction of the Calder Freeway interchange, and locals had observed for years that vehicles were using it as a high-speed freeway extension, arriving at the unsignalised cross intersection with little reduction in speed. The consequences were predictable and serious.

Transport Victoria data, consolidated from Victoria Police and hospital records, recorded six accidents at this intersection between 2014 and 2021 alone. That figure does not capture all incidents either, as local reporting identified additional crashes that fell outside the formal dataset. One collision in August 2025 was severe enough to destroy a concrete power pole and cut power to 53 nearby homes, with both drivers requiring treatment for injuries. A further collision occurred on Anzac Day that same year, when a driver failed to give way at the intersection while a commemorative march was taking place just 700 metres down the road.

Macedon Ranges Shire Council’s own Kyneton Movement Network Study and Strategic Plan for 2024 to 2033 formally documented the intersection as an unsignalised cross intersection with crash history, and identified the installation of a roundabout at the location as a medium priority. Community pressure for action had been building for years, with residents calling for a roundabout or traffic signals to prevent further casualties.

The Funding: Federal Black Spot Program

The project received funding through the Australian Government’s Black Spot Program, a targeted road safety initiative that uses crash data analysis and expert panel assessment to identify locations at heightened risk and fund engineering interventions to reduce that risk. The program is one of the most evidence-based road safety funding mechanisms available to local governments, and securing Black Spot designation reflects a genuine and documented history of crash occurrence at a location.

The Beauchamp Street and Mollison Street intersection was allocated $237,000 under the 2024 to 2025 Victorian Black Spot Program to fund the safety upgrade works. It was one of two Black Spot locations in Kyneton to receive funding in that round, underlining the broader road safety challenges facing this intersection-heavy town centre as traffic volumes and development have grown over recent decades.

The Works

The upgrade delivered a package of proven safety engineering treatments designed to address the specific crash patterns and speed environment at this intersection.

A raised wombat crossing was installed on the eastern leg of the Beauchamp Street approach, the direction from which vehicles were arriving at speed. A wombat crossing, more formally known as a raised pedestrian facility, serves a dual function: it provides a clearly defined, elevated crossing point that gives priority to pedestrians and forces a physical speed reduction for approaching vehicles. The raised platform is a tactile and visual cue that requires drivers to slow, rather than simply relying on signage or line markings that can be disregarded at higher speeds. It is one of the more effective intersection speed management tools available at an unsignalised location precisely because it works on the road geometry itself rather than driver compliance alone.

The works were complemented by the broader Macedon Ranges speed limit reform program, under which Mollison Street received a speed limit reduction from 60 km/h to 40 km/h from Piper Street through to north of Beauchamp Street, funded through the Victorian Government’s Safe Local Roads and Streets Program. This speed limit change, delivered with formal approval from the Department of Transport and Planning, directly supports the physical treatments at the Beauchamp Street intersection by reducing the approach speeds on Mollison Street and creating a consistent low-speed environment through the town centre.

Our Role: Supplying the Signage

Intersection safety upgrades of this type generate a specific and important signage requirement. Speed zone signs announcing the new 40 km/h limit must be placed in accordance with the relevant Australian Standards and VicRoads requirements, ensuring motorists receive adequate notice of the changed speed environment as they enter the affected section of Mollison Street. Wombat crossings require regulatory signage and appropriate warning signage on the approach to ensure drivers are aware of the pedestrian priority facility ahead. Kerb outstand works also require updated line marking and any associated regulatory or delineation signage.

Uniform Safety Signs was engaged to supply the signage for the Mollison Street and Beauchamp Street intersection upgrade. On a community project of this scale, accuracy and compliance are just as critical as on a major freeway project. The signs we supply must meet the same Australian Standards regardless of whether the road carries 200,000 vehicles a day or 2,000. A speed zone sign installed incorrectly or to the wrong specification can affect the enforceability of that speed limit, and in a location with a documented crash history, that is not a risk anyone can afford.

We are proud to support projects like this one. Regional communities like Kyneton deserve the same quality of road safety infrastructure as any metropolitan corridor, and it was genuinely satisfying to contribute to an upgrade that has been sought by residents for years and that will make a real difference to the safety of the intersection every single day.

Looking Ahead

The Mollison Street and Beauchamp Street upgrade is one piece of a broader safety picture for Kyneton. The Kyneton Movement Network Plan identifies further works at this and surrounding intersections as the town continues to grow and traffic patterns evolve. For Uniform Safety Signs, it is a reminder that meaningful safety outcomes are achieved at every scale, and that the work of supplying compliant, well-manufactured signage matters just as much in a regional town as it does on a capital city bypass.

Uniform Safety Signs: proud to support safer roads in every community, large and small.