Elsie Lange
Imagine 5000 cars a day travelling along a road built for a daily traffic of 2000 vehicles, at most.
And now imagine those cars are speeding, scaring locals and preventing pedestrians and cyclists from wanting to share the path.
That’s the reality of people living on and around Forest Red Gum Drive in Mickleham.
On 14 February, Hume council resolved to investigate ways to improve the road following complaints from residents about overuse and safety of the road.
The Hume officer’s report found there had been “approximately 10-fold in vehicle traffic” since the connection to the Merrifield West Precinct Structure Plan was opened and 85 per cent of traffic was travelling 15 km/h over the default speed limit.
“I know that our community is somewhat divided into two groups: those who want the road upgraded and those who would like the traffic reduced considerably, if not having the road closed completely to traffic from the north of the inter-urban break,” councillor Jodi Jackson said.
“I think what we as councillors need to do is work with our residents to find a happy medium.”
In a statement read at the meeting, a resident living just off the road said their vehicle had been severely damaged when they were run off the road into a pothole due to the road width and other drivers’ speeds.
“That is not the first time that we’ve almost been run off the road, we cannot even turn into our own street without people being so close to our cars,” the statement said.
The resident also said there had been an increase in wildlife fatalities and rubbish left along the road because of its overuse.
Cr Joseph Haweil said the 900 per cent increase in the number of vehicles commuting along Red Forest Gum Drive between 2014 and 2020 told “a story” about planning in the area.
“That is absolutely incredible, it tells you about all the congestion and the other road issues that are occurring in the rest of the city,” Cr Haweil said.
