By Laura Michell
Whittlesea council has backed away from plans to give one of South Morang’s busiest intersections an “ultimate” upgrade, fearing the move would “flood” The Lakes Boulevard with traffic.
The council voted in August 2017 to completely rebuild the intersection of Findon Road, Ferres Boulevard and The Lakes Boulevard and install traffic lights, more lanes in each direction, slip lanes, shared bicycle paths and a three-lane bridge across Findon Creek. The upgrade was labelled the “ultimate” option by council officers, who estimated the work would cost $12.9 million.
At the time, then mayor Ricky Kirkham said the intersection was a high priority in the council’s roads and transport plan. He said the project mattered to the community because it would get them home safely and quickly.
Councillors chose the ultimate upgrade over an “interim” upgrade, which did not include the bridge and slip lanes on the northern and southern approaches.
Council officers said while the interim upgrade was cheaper at $10.8 million, it would “fail to meet a satisfactory level of service by 2032” and would later need to be upgraded to the ultimate option, at a cost of $6.86 million.
Earlier this month, councillors voted instead to go ahead with the interim upgrade.
Cr Lawrie Cox said he feared the ultimate upgrade would create a traffic nightmare for people living on The Lakes Boulevard.
“The Ferres Boulevard/The Lakes Boulevard connection concerns me because The Lakes Boulevard is a single lane road and will be flooded with traffic,” he said.
“I would be uncomfortable with building a bridge that will flood traffic into The Lakes Boulevard. I don’t think that is fair to residents.”
But Cr Alahna Desiato said the intersection was one of the most congested points in the municipality, providing access to Westfield Plenty Valley, trains and the civic centre, and should be upgraded to the ultimate standard.
“The interim option will be more expensive in the long run. After 10 years, the intersection will be inadequate,” she said.
“Our duty as councillors is to look after the municipality for the long term.”
