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A Golden Square intersection is frustrating Bendigo motorists, with residents labelling it “bedlam” and “just crazy”.
The Specimen Hill Road and Chum Street intersection was identified by Bendigo Advertiser readers as a problem area after the City of Greater Bendigo released a list of seven priority intersections.
The Golden Square intersection is the responsibility of VicRoads not council. It was the most named intersection outside of the seven council priority spots in a Bendigo Advertiser online poll and Facebook post calling for residents’ thoughts on problem areas in the region.
Yvonne Stewart, who travels through the intersection regularly to visit her son, said it was bedlam.
“That intersection is bad,” she said. “It’s as busy a intersection as the Edwards Road and Calder Highway intersection.”
Specimen Hill Road also meets Emmett Street near the intersection with Chum Street and Ms Stewart said this only compounded the issue for Chum Street traffic turning onto Specimen Hill Road.
“You’ll just get a clearing and then a car will come from Emmett Street,” she said. “You can sit there for quite a while.
“It’s hair-raising at times.”
Erin Barnes, whose daughter goes to the Bluebird Early Education Centre on Specimen Hill Road, said the intersection saw a lot of traffic with a number of schools and day cares in the area.
“That intersection is just crazy,” she said. “It can take you 15 to 20 minutes just to get through.”
Ms Barnes said something was definitely needed to alleviate problems as it was only getting busier.
“A roundabout would be perfect,” she said.
Ms Stewart believed traffic lights would be the solution to navigating the intersection.
“It needs something because it’s only a matter of time,” she said. “It’s just bedlam.”
The intersection has seen two crashes recorded with minor injuries in the past 12 months, according to VicRoads data.
Regional director Mal Kersting said VicRoads would continue to work with the council and residents to ensure their needs were understood.
Other intersections to be identified as problem areas by readers were the five-way roundabout in Kennington; Hargreaves and Thistle streets in Golden Square; and many intersections along Howard Street in the Epsom area.
Amanda Walker said although she didn’t have any issues with Bendigo intersections, her friends were not a fan of the five-way roundabout.
“My friends called it ‘the roundabout of death’ and they were from Sydney and well used to busy traffic,” she said.
The five-way roundabout in Kennington, which includes Williamson, Sternberg, Townsend, Somerville and Miller streets, is a shared intersection between VicRoads and City of Greater Bendigo.
A council spokesperson said VicRoads was the responsible authority for any intersection treatments at the roundabout.
VicRoads data shows one crash recorded at the roundabout that resulted in serious injury in the past 12 months.
The intersection of the Midland Highway and Howard Street, also a VicRoads intersection, has had no accidents recorded in the past 12 months.
Hargreaves and Thistle streets are the responsibility of the City of Greater Bendigo. The last reported accident at this intersection was in 2007.
It has been a staggered intersection for more than 30 years and the city has no immediate plans to undertake works at the intersection, a council spokesperson said.