Whittlesea council has heeded the objections of more than 900 petitioners by deciding against installing a clearway in High Street, Thomastown.
Despite a last-minute bid from Cr Rex Griffen to sway fellow councillors to have a clearway installed between Mahoneys Road, Thomastown, and O’Herns Road, Epping, he was out-voted.
Instead, councillors voted to advocate for construction of an E6 freeway as a limited-access arterial road and duplication of Epping Road to the north. They also want traffic light co-ordination improvements in High Street.
The proposed E6 freeway would extend from the Western Ring Road to meet the future Outer Metropolitan Ring Road at the Hume Freeway.
Cr Steven Kozmevski said installing a clearway was not the solution.
“It’s a far greater problem that VicRoads must act on,” he said. “What’s vital here is the parking. Their [trader] viability is dependent on sufficient parking.”
Vaikunth Gohil, the petition organiser and owner of Thomastown News and Lotto, said traders and High Street shoppers were “happy”.
“Common sense has prevailed. Before my time, there were multiple butchers and greengrocers; now they’re all gone.”
The councillors’ decision is in line with Whittlesea council traffic engineering advice.
In a report, the council was informed that after a comprehensive and rigorous study and consultation process into the feasibility of a clearway, it was found that inefficiently operated traffic lights were the main cause of traffic congestion.
“Traffic flow could be improved with parking restrictions. However, the full benefit of parking restrictions would only be achieved if the operation and linking of the traffic signals was improved,” the report said. Cr Griffen disagreed, saying traffic had increased significantly in the past 10 years and a clearway would alleviate gridlock in the afternoon peak.
The issue of increased traffic congestion in High Street first came before council in 2013.
A report was prepared to assess the feasibility of a clearway. But when the community was consulted, 928 people signed a petition requesting that a clearway not be installed, largely over fears about loss of customers for local businesses.
