By Claire Tierney
There is no question that Yarraville’s Anderson Street level crossing needs to be addressed. Safety matters. Congestion matters.
Improving the connection across the railway is an important investment in Yarraville’s future, and like many locals, I’ve stood waiting at the boom gates wondering why such a short journey can sometimes take so long and that frustration is real.
But I wonder if we’ve allowed that frustration to become the question we’re trying to solve and perhaps the question isn’t simply, “How do we remove the delay?”. Perhaps it should be, “What kind of place do we want Yarraville to become?”
As someone who uses a wheelchair and works professionally in accessibility and universal design, I find myself looking at the proposal through a different lens. My first thought wasn’t whether it solved an engineering problem. It was much simpler. Have we asked the people who depend on accessible design every day, whether we’ve explored the best possible solution?
That question isn’t only for people who are ably challenged. Have wheelchair users, older residents, parents, local businesses and people with lived experience of accessibility been invited to help imagine what could be possible?
Have we looked carefully at contemporary examples from around the world before deciding what is right for Yarraville? I honestly don’t know. And that uncertainty is why I believe we should pause, long enough to ask a few more questions, because this project is about much more than crossing a railway line – it’s about protecting something that makes Yarraville genuinely special.
As an independent woman living alone and using a wheelchair, my independence depends on far more than accessible footpaths and lifts. It depends on feeling part of a community.
In Yarraville, I’m not simply another customer. People know me. If I can’t get into a shop, staff will often come outside to serve me on the footpath. Café owners stop for a chat. Familiar faces ask how I’m doing. Those moments might seem small, but to someone living independently they are profoundly important. They create a quiet confidence that I belong here – that I’m not an inconvenience, but a valued member of the community.
That sense of belonging can’t be designed into a building, and it can’t be measured on an engineering drawing. It grows over years through independent businesses, familiar faces and the everyday kindness that develops when people genuinely know one another. It is one of the reasons I chose to make Yarraville my home, and one of the reasons I care so deeply about its future.
My concern is not simply whether the new crossing will move people efficiently. It is whether the design reflects the very qualities that make Yarraville such an extraordinary place to live. At the moment, I don’t believe it does. Nor do I believe it reflects the spirit of universal design – not just creating accessible infrastructure, but creating places where everyone feels they belong.
Universal design has never been about creating a separate route for wheelchair users. It’s about creating places that work naturally for everyone: parents with prams, older residents, children on scooters, cyclists, travellers with luggage and people whose mobility changes throughout life.
Good accessibility is simply good design. I don’t pretend to know the engineering answer. I don’t know whether the current proposal is the best solution or whether there is a better one. What I do know is that I haven’t yet seen a conversation that genuinely explores the full range of possibilities before decisions become permanent.
Many of the world’s most loved communities share remarkably similar qualities. They are built on a human scale. Their streets encourage people to walk rather than hurry. Mature trees soften public spaces. Independent businesses thrive alongside one another, and public places evolve naturally around the way people actually live.
Yarraville has those same qualities. That is why people often describe it as feeling European, not because it looks like Europe, but because it shares the same principles of thoughtful placemaking that make so many villages memorable long after we’ve left them.
When we stand at the boom gates wishing the crossing would open sooner, it’s easy to think we’re only asking for a faster journey. In reality, we may also be making decisions about the future character of our village. Solving today’s frustration can mean permanently closing roads, removing mature trees, affecting much-loved local businesses and reshaping the places that give Yarraville its identity.
Once those changes are made, they are rarely reversed.
Looking internationally, there are countless examples of communities that have solved similar challenges in ways that are elegant, contemporary and genuinely inclusive. Some use generous pedestrian bridges with large-capacity lifts. Others create beautifully integrated shared pathways that everyone uses together. They don’t separate accessibility from the rest of the design– they make accessibility the design.
Whether any of those approaches are appropriate for Yarraville isn’t for me to decide, but I do believe they deserve to be part of the conversation. So this isn’t about arguing for one particular bridge, lift or underpass. It’s about making sure we’ve explored every thoughtful possibility before permanently reshaping one of Melbourne’s most distinctive villages.
The station precinct is Yarraville’s front door. It forms first impressions for visitors and daily experiences for residents. Whatever we build there will shape how this village feels for generations and if we can improve safety while preserving the intimate, welcoming character that makes Yarraville unique, then surely that is the outcome worth striving for.
Before we make decisions that cannot easily be undone, I hope we ask a few more questions. Not only about engineering. Not only about cost. But about community, inclusiveness and about universal design. Because long after the boom gates are gone, the village we leave behind will remain.
Claire Tierney is a Universal Design & Inclusive Communities Consultant | Keynote Speaker | Community Engagement | Lived Experience Advisor
