A surge in commercial traffic set to descend on the new Epping wholesale market site will wreak havoc on local roads and could affect Melbourne’s produce industry, according to traders and Whittlesea council.
When Melbourne Wholesale Market becomes fully operational at its Cooper Street site mid-next year, it will add about 8800 vehicles a day to the thoroughfare.
VicRoads estimates about 35 per cent of the additional traffic, just over 3000 vehicles, will be for commercial use. Whittlesea council’s latest traffic survey, done in August 2010, indicated the affected section of Cooper Street, west of High Street, carried about 40,000 vehicles a day.
VicRoads is co-ordinating an upgrade of Cooper Street, which is expected to begin late this year and be completed by the middle of next year, to coincide with the opening of the wholesale market.
VicRoads’ metro north-west region acting regional director, Sebastian Motta, said the widening of Cooper Street would include a third lane in each direction, bus priority at signalised intersections and extra turn lanes at the Hume Freeway interchange.
But Whittlesea council communications acting regional director Griff Davis said while the upgrade of Cooper Street was welcome, “it will have little benefit to commuters who, daily, are stuck in Cooper Street traffic east of Edgars Road”.
The council has called on the state government to help the municipality to extend Edgars Road between Cooper Street and O’Herns Road, complete the upgrade of O’Herns Road and construct a Hume Freeway-O’Herns Road interchange.
Mr Davis said the combination of the commercial market traffic and existing local traffic would mean vehicles “won’t be able to move” on arterial roads around the market.
He said the new market site was “a high-risk project” and the inevitable traffic delays could have a major impact on the market’s commercial viability.
“If [traders] happen to have a shop in the west, they’ll be lucky to get there by 9.30am,” he said. “It could harm the productivity and commercial ability of Victoria.”
Victorian Vegetable Growers Association president David Wallace said the government hadn’t put enough thought into traffic management. He said that, as a trader, he was concerned at the impact on businesses and local traffic.
