By Nicole Precel
ALTONA North residents want Chambers Rd closed in the interests of their safety.
At last week’s council meeting, 30 letters were received requesting the closure of the road north of Barnes Rd.
Friends of Lower Kororoit Creek president Geoff Mitchelmore said there was a problem with trucks using the residential area through Millers Rd to get to the West Gate Freeway.
“The community is being plagued by trucks and cars coming from the other side of the creek into residential area and that is creating big issues for us,” he said.
“Somehow we want that closed, council won’t recognise that.”
The Barnes Rd bridge was built to provide an alternative route for trucks to access the industrial area west of Chambers Rd, rather than trucks passing predominantly through McArthurs and Ross roads.
Mr Mitchelmore said the best way would be to temporarily close Chambers Rd to see if it made a difference.
“It’s what happens at 8am in the morning, it’s all the trucks – all the other cars, we have a peak hour there now, it’s ridiculous, it’s a residential area,” he said.
Altona North Ward councillor Michael Raffoul said the council agreed that the issue of trucks in residential streets needed to be addressed.
“(Council) will work collaboratively to encourage trucks to use the Barnes Rd bridge,” he said.
But the council has said the closure of the road would be complicated.
“The council has obtained expert traffic advice regarding the closure of Chambers Rd, north of Barnes Rd. The advice is that closing this section of Chambers Rd has the potential to create impacts elsewhere, such as transferring truck traffic to McIntosh Rd and Berkeley Crescent,” he said.
The advice also said the closing of Chambers Rd couldn’t be justified due to the reduction in heavy vehicle traffic based on July 2006 traffic volumes and that it was also contrary to the overall local truck management strategy and diminished the benefits of the Barnes Rd bridge connection.
The council would instead conduct traffic counts and liaise with businesses to ensure the trucks use Barnes Rd bridge.
Mr Mitchelmore said he wanted a new local traffic management scheme conducted so residents could have their say on traffic flow and road usage.
