Vote one: bypass to solve traffic horror

Jessica Benton
A Drysdale bypass should be a big-ticket commitment for Bellarine at November’s state election, according to community leaders.
They plan to pressure candidates for a bypass funding promise to eliminate the Bellarine Peninsula’s worst traffic bottleneck.
Drysdale Clifton Springs Community Association’s Doug Carson urged the candidates to make the bypass an election priority.
“This definitely needs to be one of the things the candidates campaign for,” he said.
Mr Carson revealed community members from Drysdale, Clifton Springs, Portarlington, St Leonards and Indented Head were pushing for the bypass.
“Residents want a Drysdale bypass to reduce heavy traffic going through the town centre. There is so much more development in the area, meaning more people are coming through Drysdale,” he said.
“Car numbers are climbing as people travel further to work and study, while truck numbers are climbing as businesses grow.”
The Independent reported in May, 2008, that Member for Western Victoria David Koch had called for State Government to start work on a Drysdale bypass to rid the peninsula of its worst traffic snarl.
The roundabout at Geelong-Portarlington and Jetty roads was causing motorists havoc when cars, trucks and school buses banked up for kilometers during peak times, he told parliament.
But Vicroads said no funding was committed to a bypass. Vicroads instead duplicated the eastern approach to the intersection.
The bottleneck has continued to frustrate motorists amid increasing residential growth on the northern Bellarine Peninsula.
Portarlington Community Association president John Turner said the growth and the roundabout were turning Drysdale itself into a “bottleneck”.
“Driving through Drysdale quite regularly myself, I know the situation and think a bypass would be great,” he said.
“Drysdale is becoming a bottleneck, so, for general, better traffic flow, of course we’d support a bypass.
“It’s not just about Drysdale, though, it has implications right across the Bellarine.”
St Leonards Progress Association president Peter Munster also threw his weight behind the bypass push.
“It’s pretty obvious it would be a boon to the area – we’re fully supportive of a bypass,” he said.
Mr Carson said the association planned to meet Labor MP Lisa Neville and Liberal candidate Kurt Reiter to discuss the bypass push after hosting a public meeting this week on the area’s traffic woes.
Ms Neville holds the seat with a margin of 7.95 per cent.