Mother's 4-year campaign delivers safer pedestrian crossing for Neerim South main road

After four budget submissions in as many years, Neerim South resident Emma Keft has got a guarantee from Baw Baw Shire council to construct a new safety crossing on the town’s main road.

What happened: At a council meeting in late June, Baw Baw Shire accepted a 197-signature petition calling for a safety and accessibility plan for Neerim South. 

The council then voted to allocate $75,000 in the 2026/27 draft budget to fund a raised pedestrian crossings on Neerim East Road and design a masterplan for future pedestrian crossing work in the township.

• Funding will be diverted from the Warragul South Urban Design Framework ($50,000) and a capital works program ($25,000).

Keft said the decision from council was “not only necessary, its long overdue”.

It caps four years of budget submissions by Keft, who told councillors at the meeting that trying to get her children to and from school had become dangerously unsafe.

• “These submissions arose from something quite simple - trying to get my children from kinder to school, to basketball training, to the pool, to the shops everyday.”

Keft said what had began as a personal concern "quickly became something much bigger," as she spoke to locals about frequent incidents and near misses on the main strip.

Population boom

Congestion and traffic on Baw Baw Shire roads has become a growing issue for the council as the shire is Victoria’s fourth fastest growing local government area, according to the state government.

“The roads carry increasing volumes of local, visitor and heavy vehicle traffic, as the town continues to grow, it’s becoming really difficult to get around to all of the places that people live,” Keft said.

“Neerim South is not the same as it was 10 years ago, area that were once paddocks are now housing estates filled with families.”