A plan to widen Punt Road – in place since the 1950s but now under active consideration by the Andrews government – has been almost universally condemned by locals.
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While VicRoads has considered demolishing 140 properties along the clogged arterial route to improve traffic flows, only one of 119 submissions to a state government review supported the bold proposal. All the others asked the Andrews government to dump the possible future acquisition.
A government planning panel is considering what to do with the properties that in 1954 had a compulsory acquisition option put on them – which is still in place today.
Punt Road in the 1950s before it was widened.
Among those to make a submission is an exclusive South Yarra private primary school, located since 1898 on Punt Road's west side – and therefore not subject to possible acquisition (only properties on the road's eastern side are affected).
Christ Church Grammar School headmistress Sophia Ashworth Jones, along with Christ Church vicar Richard Treloar, said in their joint submission that widening Punt Road would endanger the safety of children crossing the road, and increase traffic pollution.
The school also said it had fears increased traffic would further damage its heritage buildings, "which already require significant maintenance due to car exhaust, fumes and dirt particles".
"There is a real likelihood that the proposed widening would be a highly expensive yet short-term solution," its submission said.
Punt Road being widened after the 1954 option to acquire homes was put in place.
VicRoads' options paper, released in August, also put forward short-term options including making the major north-south arterial a permanent clearway and banning right-hand turns. And it estimated the cost of acquiring Punt Road homes from the Yarra River to St Kilda Junction would be half a billion dollars.
Residents who made submissions – who stand to gain from the removal of the acquisition overlay – pointed out that widening Punt Road might make only minor short-term improvements to traffic, and that car use on the road had fallen since 2003.
Only one submission supported the acquisition overlay being kept; a Prahran resident said the road should be widened, bicycle lanes added and a median strip installed. The resident also said a tunnel under Punt Road should be built.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy has said that any study on fixing congestion on Punt Road was a waste of time, and that the government should put in 24-hour clearways and scrap the overlay.
