By Luke Voogt
Thousands of cars from new developments are set to inundate a narrow Waurn Ponds road already struggling with increasing traffic, a local resident has warned.
“Ghazeepore Road residents have been thrown under the bus, truck and cars,” long-time local Ross Carlson said.
“Residents are forced to park on the nature strips [because] side-swiping is a far too regular event. Huge increases in traffic numbers make daily life a nightmare.”
According to council figures, traffic on one section of the road has doubled from 3279 vehicles per day in September 2015 to 6481 in March 2020.
About 3000 vehicles per day used the road in 2013, according to a SMEC traffic report created for council.
Daily peak-hour through traffic at the Ghazeepore Road-Hams Road intersection increased from 688 vehicles in October 2018 to 999 in July 2019.
“Hundreds” of new houses in Armstrong Creek and Mount Duneed, and council this July approving a new 214-lot estate adjoining the road, would lead to thousands more cars, Mr Carlson said.
He urged council to install speed humps, ‘local traffic only’ signs and pedestrian crossings, and to introduce 50km/h speed limits to control traffic.
Mr Carlson suggested an overpass connecting the much wider and well-maintained Rossack Drive to arterial road Baanip Boulevard over the railway line would be the ideal solution.
Council has no plan for a Rossack Drive overpass but is considering safety improvements for Ghazeepore Road, according to city services director Guy Wilson-Browne.
Mr Wilson-Browne admitted traffic had increased since 2015 following the opening of Baanip Boulevard onto Ghazeepore Road.
But he added: “data we have available suggests traffic volumes in the residential north section of Ghazeepore have not varied significantly.”
Council expected population growth from the new estate and surrounding areas to increase traffic on Ghazeepore Road, Mr Wilson-Browne said.
Council secured $500,000 from the developers of the new Waurn Ponds estate for safety upgrades to Ghazeepore Road, he said.
The developers had also agreed to construct a roundabout at the Hams Road-Ghazeepore Road intersection and a pedestrian crossing, Mr Wilson-Browne said.
