MORE than $100 million is needed to upgrade roads in Wyndham that are at or over capacity, according to a new report.
Wyndham Council released its annual report, 2012 Traffic Volumes in Wyndham, last week, calling on VicRoads to urgently pump money into the municipality.
Of the 19 roads that are currently identified as at or over capacity, the report claims that 15 of them are under VicRoads jurisdiction while five are the responsibility of the council.
The busiest roads in Wyndham according to the report are Forsyth Rd south of Old Geelong Rd with 38,120 vehicles per day, Princes Highway West of Sneydes Rd with 32,760 vehicles per day and Old Geelong Rd at Dunlop Rd with 30,980 vehicles per day.
Councillor Peter Gibbons, a council representative on the RoadSafe Westgate Community Road Safety Council said among the report’s findings were that traffic volumes on Tarneit Rd, north of Sayers Rd, had swelled by 26 per cent.
“An additional 3170 vehicles per day are now using Point Cook Rd, between Sneydes Rd and Dunnings Rd – a 14 per cent increase on the 2011 survey,” he said.
Even more worrying was the fact that in the last two years VicRoads had not duplicated any roads that were previously identified as needing upgrading.
At last week’s council meeting the councillors voted to write to VicRoads and request urgent funding for the duplication of Forsyth Rd, Sayers Rd, Point Cook Rd, Heaths Rd, Palmers Rd, Leakes Rd and Derrimut Rd.
Chairman of the Wyndham Transport Advisory Committee, John Menegazzo, said urgent action was required by the State Government.
“Residents are clearly being put in danger,” Mr Menegazzo said.
“It’s not just the heartache of congestion but it also has a negative impact on freight productivity.
“We need to ensure that these roads get duplicates as soon as possible and not just left on the backburner again because we are the West.”
