BENDIGO councillors are tomorrow night expected to approve a letter calling for urgent action on the Raywood-Elmore road.
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Resident Tony Cutting has campaigned for the stretch of road at Kamarooka to be widened and has received about 1500 signatures to his petition.
A young mother recently died on the road after a head-on collision and Mr Cutting said he was sick of VicRoads’ apparent inaction.
Council staff have recommended sending a letter to VicRoads strongly advocating for urgent upgrades to the road.
Mr Cutting said he had recently seen a fuel tanker travelling along the B-double-approved road and said VicRoads’ assertion only 200 vehicles used the road daily was misleading.
“If a fuel tanker or a vehicle carrying explosives had a head-on, it would be catastrophic,” he said.
“The Raywood and Elmore primary school buses go back and forth all the time through there.
“It makes me shudder to think how bad the situation could be on that road in bad circumstances.
“I’d like to know when VicRoads measured the 200 vehicles a day... there are thousands of cars that use the road when things like the Elmore Field Days are on.”
Mr Cutting said there had been a lot of community support for repairing the road.
“They just want it to be fixed,” he said. “It’s up to the government to budget for this road, the treasury to release it, then VicRoads to do the work.”
Bendigo councillor James Williams said the road was dangerous, noting it had hills and crests, single-lane sections, heavy traffic and issues with water. “I’d ask the council to write to the state government representatives as well to help influence the decision,” he said.
“I’ve worked closely with Tony on this and he’s done a great job to get it up and running. I’ll be recommending the council take this up.”
Member for Bendigo East Jacinta Allan has presented the petition to state parliament.