By Laura Michell
Hume council has warned that Donnybrook Road cannot cope with the volume of traffic using it daily and urged the state government to duplicate the road from the northern Hume Freeway exit to Donnybrook station in two stages.
Major Roads Projects Victoria (MRPV) invited council to make a submission as part of its planning works for the duplication of Donnybrook Road from Mickleham Road in Mickleham to Epping Road in Woodstock.
In its submission, council called for stage one of the duplication to take place between the northern exit of the Hume Freeway (east of Polaris Road) and Mitchell Street, which stage two to continue the duplication up to Donnybrook station.
The submission stated that council traffic monitoring in February found the section of Donnybrook Road between Dwyer Street and Mitchell Street was used by 35,000 vehicles a day.
It said the capacity of a single lane was 10,000 vehicles per day.
“The road cannot cater for the population as it stands today,” the submission warned.
Speaking at the Monday, March 24 council meeting, councillor Ally Watson said congestion on Donnybrook Road was so bad that Kalkallo residents had to leave for work and school hours earlier than they should “in the hope” of getting there on time.
She said people were selling their “dream homes” and leaving the area because the congestion was too much, and expectant mothers feared going into labour during peak travel times and getting stuck in the traffic.
“The bridge over the [Hume] freeway is a single lane each way creating a frustrating bottleneck,” Cr Watson said.
“No matter which time of the day you go, or which direction you are heading, banked up traffic is a given.”
Cr Watson said while a state and federal government commitment of $125 million to remove the roundabout on Donnybrook Road at the entrance to the Hume Freeway and replace it with traffic lights was welcomed, more needed to be done.
“This submission is the next critical stage,” she said.
