The minister for roads has asked VicRoads to finalise proposals for safer driveways and residential acoustic fencing for part of contentious Calder Highway roadworks as soon as possible.
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VicRoads wants to move driveways off of the Calder near the Jock Comini rest stop, and place access to the properties on Bickfords Road.
But plans are yet to be finalised nearly two weeks after VicRoads told resident Shane Hartland correspondence would be sent to all property owners to confirm arrangements.
Residents’ long running negotiations with VicRoads boiled over in May, when a number of property owners approached the media about concerns with truck stop noise.
They were also concerned about on-going negotiations about access to their properties along Bickfords Road.
On Thursday, Member for Northern Victoria Region Wendy Lovell again raised Ravenswood traffic matters in parliament, this time after being contacted by residents on the other side of the Calder Highway.
She said residents were concerned about wire ropes that would run across the front of several houses directly south of the rest area.
“My constituents … will have their current access to their properties cut off by these works and will be forced to gain access via McDonalds Lane,” Ms Lovell said.
“This is currently extremely dangerous as there is no turning lane into McDonalds Lane, with drivers forced to slow down and turn from the actual highway in what will become a 110km/h zone.”
Local residents had told Ms Lovell the safest and most common sense solution would be to be able to access homes via a new road off of Ravenswood Road.
VicRoads considered improvements to the way residents used McDonalds to be the safest option at this stage.
The agency’s northern region director Brian Westley said VicRoads was ensuring no-one had to slow down or pull out into fast moving Calder traffic by providing safer access through Bickfords Road and McDonalds Lane.
“We have been engaging with Ravenswood property owners since 2015 - working even more closely and positively with the majority of impacted property owners over the last year,” he said.
Proposals for residents with changed access to the Calder were being finalised and Mr Westley said VicRoads would be in touch in the coming days.
A spokesperson for Luke Donnellan, Minister for Roads and Road Safety, said the Ravenswood interchange project had made travel safer and smoother along the Calder.
“Improvements to the Jock Comini rest area and McDonalds Lane will significantly boost safety for anyone using this stretch of road,” the spokesperson said.
Tom O'Callaghan
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
I grew up in Bendigo and I want to tell your stories.
