Updated drafts for Deer Park level crossings

The new design for Robinsons Rd, looking south (via LXRA)

About nine months after releasing their first draft designs, the Level Crossing Removal Authority (LXRA) have released updated drafts for the Robinsons Rd, Deer Park and Fitzgerald Rd, Ardeer level crossing removals. I made some suggestions when the initial drafts were released, so let's take a look and see what's different. 

Robinsons Road, Deer Park

The new design (top) is a little more colourful (via LXRA)

The design for Robinsons Rd doesn't seem to have changed much in the fundamentals. The walls were originally a dull concrete grey, but on the new design a nicer reddish colour has been used on much of it. 

The original design (top) had a large concrete pad which is now gone (via LXRA)

With that cosmetic difference aside, the only difference I can spot is that there doesn't seem to be the same large concrete pad on the western abutment; it's now showing the grassed area extending right to the edge. Whether this means any practical difference in terms of how easy it will be to add a second track pair later is anyone's guess; they certainly haven't future-proofed it but they don't seem to have made life too difficult for themselves either. 

Fitzgerald Road, Ardeer

Lots more trees in the render this time around (via LXRA)

The render for the new Fitzgerald Rd design has a lot more trees than the old one did. Having more trees like this will definitely be a good thing from an environmental perspective, and make it a more pleasant place to walk or cycle - but it does make it a lot more difficult to clearly see what's going on with the actual road design. 

The old design required three crossings for bikes & peds (via @MelbourneWay)

Last time, I pointed out that a cyclist coming off the overpass would need to make three separate crossings to get to the shared-use path on the south side of Fitzgerald Rd. They seem to have reduced this to two crossings, by shifting it from the western flank to the eastern flank. This is not as good as a direct crossing would have been, but it is at least a step in the right direction. However, this small amount of good seems to have been overwhelmed by changes to the sliplane. 

The new design render showing the sweeping sliplane

Previously, a car turning left onto Fitzgerald would have needed to slow down and turn into the sliplane at a right angle, as can be seen in the first image. This would have meant they had more opportunity to see any cyclists or pedestrians and reduce the likelihood of a crash, and if there was a crash, reduce the speed of impact. Again it's hard to be 100% sure because the trees are in the way, but the new design seems to have a much more sweeping sliplane, allowing vehicles to retain much more momentum at the point of conflict. 

This was presumably designed to make traffic flow more freely, but it's a backwards step from a safety perspective. It's disappointing that this still seems to be where LXRA's priorities lie in 2021.