VICROADS will review access to Beilharz Road in its plans for the Ravenswood Interchange following a community forum with residents on Saturday.
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About 50 to 60 people turned out to the forum at the Big Hill Winery at 10am to hear from VicRoads' representatives about the latest plans for the $86 million joint federal and state government project.
The forum follows a number of community information sessions held in recent months about the project, which aims to improve the safety of the Calder Highway and Calder Highway intersection at Ravenswood.
Project director Trevor Boyd first gave attendees a recap on how the roads' authority had incorporated feedback from previous consultations into the latest design.
Residents heard information about access to roads and traffic management during the construction phase, changes in travel times, proposed speed limits, the issue of truck safety and truck noise, and plans to offset the removal of about 1000 trees required for the design by planting about 8000 more.
The forum was then opened up for the community to ask questions, with residents from Beilharz Road among the most vocal.
Among the concerns raised was that once the new interchange was built, residents travelling south down the Calder Highway from Bendigo would have to travel an additional two kilometres to the interchange and do a U-turn before accessing their road.
A group of Beilharz Road residents who have previously lobbied VicRoads to build a slip lane to Beilharz Lane from the Calder Highway, were again told the proposed slip lane was too close to the Calder Alternate Highway, which VicRoads' representatives said could confuse some drivers.
Resident Alan Durbridge said tight turns in the current design could increase the likelihood of rear-end collisions in some places.
"We're talking about potentially coming to a complete stop on a freeway roundabout," he said.
Mr Boyd said based on some of the comments raised by residents during the forum he would commit to reviewing access to Beilharz Road, as well as other matters raised at the forum.
At the end of question time, Mr Boyd said a contract for the Ravenswood Interchange was likely to be awarded at the end of the year, while the project still aimed to be completed by the end of 2017.