Inability to easily put footpath in East Albury street has prompted an unusual proposal to solve dilemma

The radical step for Walsh Street was raised by deputy mayor Amanda Cohn at a council briefing in response to the city council's deputy chief and engineering boss Brad Ferris noting there was no easy or inexpensive way to have a walkway over nature stripes.

"The footpath area is narrow and doesn't facilitate the construction of a pathway....and then to reconstruct the whole road and narrow it down would be hundreds of thousands of dollars....because it'll change the levels significantly and therefore be a major cost," Mr Ferris said.

"We are in a little bit of a spot there where we can't put a footpath on the nature strip because of the width of it and the topography yet to put one (in)....and be safe would mean to narrow that road right down and write off a significant asset."

Cr Cohn, who said she had received correspondence from residents "desperate" for a footpath, then floated having pedestrians on the bitumen.

"I would love for us to consider things like a designated pedestrian area separated by concrete bollards or something on the existing road space," Cr Cohn said.

Mr Ferris said he would explore whether there was "a chance to have some sort of pathway area out on the road which still remains safe".

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Councillor John Stuchbery related the situation to bike path markings on roadways in central Albury.

"They are just green painted things on the road, it doesn't seem to me to be a great expense to get a bit of green paint and paint a few pedestrian paths on the road," Cr Stuchbery said.

"It doesn't sound expensive, it doesn't sound difficult and worth considering."

Past mayor Henk van de Ven implied it could be "really confusing" for people if green markings denoting bikeways were used for walkers on one road in Albury.

Those who walk Walsh Street had a mixed reaction to the idea of a road pathway.

Mum Samantha Teng, who pushes her son Isaac, 2, along the strip each day, was welcoming.

"I think it would be beneficial because of the way the nature strip is set up you can't walk on it, the street is wide enough, but it would be nice to have lines," she said.

Robyn Coleman who strides the street en route to her daily coffee believes it is unnecessary.

"It's not that busy and it's a nice wide street," she said, adding she did not walk on the grass as it was uneven.

Others were concerned a pedestrian corridor would interfere with car parking and another has formed a pathway outside her house and seen walkers come off the roadway to use it and then return to the street.

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