Long-term Craigieburn resident and real estate agent Jim Overend is on a mission to have Craigieburn Road duplicated.
How long have you lived in Craigieburn, and what brought you to the area?
For more than 27 years. I come from Fawkner, and brought the family to Craigieburn because it was an affordable place to move to, and it was brand new.
How has Craigieburn changed over the past 27 years?
When I came here, it was a shire. It ended at Dorchester Street. It was a small area. Over the 27 years, it grew, and grew and grew.
How long have you been campaigning to have Craigieburn Road duplicated?
About a year ago I started a petition, and we have kept it going. We have a Facebook page and we have been pushing and pushing to get something done.
The first petition was tabled in Parliament last week. We have a second round of petitions and are up around 1000 signatures now.
Why should Craigieburn Road be duplicated?
Unfortunately, Craigieburn Road hasn’t changed in the last 27 years.
It gets to the point where you cannot turn right out of Dorchester Street, where I live, onto Craigieburn Road, and that is what sparked me to do something about it.
I work at Craigieburn Central, which is one minute from here, but I can’t turn right to get there.
I have to turn left and perform a dangerous U-turn. I’ll keep pushing until they do something about this road.
What do you love about your community?
I’ve got friends here and my family and the community. You don’t need to leave Craigieburn; you’ve got everything here.
Apart from Craigieburn Road, is there anything else that you would like to change?
I’d like to see a lot of the older parts of Craigieburn rejuvenated and brought back up [to scratch].
It’s becoming like the haves and have nots.
I would like to see the older part being taken care of again.
Facebook: duplicationofcraigieburnroadwest
