By Kerri-Anne Mesner
TRAFFIC problems encountered by people travelling along Taylors Rd, through the Copperfield Drive intersection, will ease in the next few years.
Brimbank City Council has agreed to allocate at least $150,000 towards installing traffic lights at the intersection, with council officers confident the council’s recent application for Black Spot Funding will be successful this round.
Council officers recommended that an officer undertake a traffic investigation to develop options to improve safety along Taylors Rd.
They also recommended that $150,000 allocated in this year’s budget towards the installation of traffic signals at the Taylors Rd and Copperfield Drive intersection should be carried over and included in the 2008-09 budget if Federal Government funding is approved.
However, Cr Marilyn Zukalski moved an alternative recommendation, which would have council pay all of the cost of installing the traffic lights if it failed to secure Black Spot funding.
“The $150,000 in next year’s budget gives us the funding to do it ourselves,” Cr Zukalski said.
Cr Natalie Suleyman said traffic issues along Taylors Rd had been going on for years and the installation of traffic lights had the potential to improve traffic for Kings Park and Delahey residents.
“This is an issue that will not go away,” she said.
Cr Suleyman said that on average, there was an accident at the Copperfield Drive and Taylors Rd intersection at least once a month.
According to the report by council officers, Taylors Rd was a strategic regional east-west route and it was only a matter of time before the section of Taylors Rd west of Kings Rd was given arterial road status.
When the road is declared arterial, VicRoads will be responsible for any improvements.
VicRoads has recommended a new bid be made for Black Spot funding.
Cr Zukalski said if council waited for another round of Black Spot funding, inflation could mean the project would go over budget.
Cr Suleyman said that last year council had tried to get funding through the Federal Government’s Black Spot program to install traffic lights at the Copperfield Drive and Taylors Rd intersection for better traffic management, but had been unsuccessful.
The 2006 application was the second year in a row the council had applied for the funds, with the first application unsuccessful due to the project having a low benefit-to-cost ratio.
Cr Suleyman said the council’s contribution to the project — $150,000, or half the total — was initially allocated in its 2006-07 budget.
Brimbank mayor Margaret Giudice said council had already submitted its application for this year’s Black Spot program.
Victorian local government Black Spot funding applications are sent to VicRoads for assessment before being forwarded to the Federal Government.
