Gerald Lynch
With a new city that will be home to 380,000 residents planned for the north, there are growing concerns for how the surrounding road network will cope with an influx of cars, trucks and motorcycles.
Of particular concern is Donnybrook Road, a major throughfare in Whittlesea that will connect thousands to the new city of Cloverton, but at the moment is a single-lane road.
Local community activist Ally Watson has led the charge to have Donnybrook Road duplicated. A petition started by Ms Watson, which gathered 2243 signatures, was presented to state parliament earlier this month.
“It’s been a huge community effort. Thank you to everyone who signed, supported and shared the petition. The number of valid signatures is by no means insignificant, in fact it represents a large proportion of the local community,” she said.
“This petition allowed our community to have a collective voice about an issue that affects us on a daily basis.”
Ms Watson said that it is important that the community is provided with regular progress updates about plans to duplicate Donnybrook Road.
“This petition is not the end of the story. As a community, we will continue to advocate for the need to duplicate Donnybrook Road to support the growing population.”
Ms Watson and others hope the petition will invoke change, following the recent completion of an upgrade to the Donnybrook Road – Mitchell Street roundabout.
Ms Watson also led the campaign for those upgrades with a petition, which received 700 less signatures than the most recent one.
Kalkallo MP Ros Spence, who publicly endorsed the petition, was happy with the results, but wants to now see the proposal put into action.
“More than 2200 residents had signed the petition when it was tabled in Parliament, demonstrating just how important this issue is to local commuters,” she said.
“The Donnybrook Road-Mitchell Street intersection upgrade has brought a tremendous amount of relief to local commuters; however as the population continues to grow we need to look to the important duplication of Donnybrook Road, including replacing the roundabout with traffic signals.”
A state government spokesperson said budget proposals and road upgrades will be considered in the usual way.
“We’ve invested more than any Victorian Government in history to transform our transport network in growing communities like Kalkallo, slashing congestion on roads and delivering more train and bus services more often,” the spokesperson said.
“We’re upgrading the Donnybrook Road and Mitchell Street intersection, easing peak hour traffic in the area and getting the community home safer and sooner.”
