Although Manningham City Council, had planned  grade separating the pedestrian crossing at Frederick Street and/or Council Street in the planning of the Doncaster Hill Activity Centre, it was never feasible due to design and funding constraints.

Any construction of new pedestrian overpasses would have to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) which requires low gradient ramps. This is unlikely to be achievable at these locations because of the narrow road reserves which would make lead up entries, either side of Doncaster Road, too steep.

Apart from the pedestrian crossing at the main intersection at Tram/Williamsons Road, opportunities for pedestrians to cross Doncaster Road to the east will have to be compromised for the sake of maintaining traffic flow in Doncaster Road .

Already congestion is an issue at the Doncaster Road intersections with Frederick Street and Tower Street, in particular

during the peak shopping hours, the Westfield exit at Tower Street is experiencing significant queuing and delays.

Exiting vehicles turning right from Tower Street are often required to stop at Frederick Street due to the high demand for pedestrians to cross Doncaster Road at this location. During the peak shopping hours, this often results in vehicle queues spilling back and blocking the entire Doncaster Road / Tower Street intersection. Therefore, when VicRoads detects over-saturation at the Tower Street exit, it will allow these right turn vehicles to proceed with a green light at Frederick Street to ‘”ease the pressure” resulting in periods where the pedestrian green light is restricted to only a staged sequence. ( one half way crossing at a time).

The synchronising of traffic lights at Council Street, which will have the added burden of accommodating the eastern entry and western exit for the massive Bunnings development, will provide even less crossing opportunities, if at all, for pedestrians in the busy periods.