Elsie Lange
Hume council has voted to investigate options to improve capacity at both the Riddell Road and Gap Road roundabouts intersecting with Elizabeth Drive in Sunbury.
Jacksons Creek Ward councillor Jarrod Bell raised the issue as a general business item at a council meeting on June 14, also asking for advocacy to the state government and local members to “accelerate any improvements”.
“The two roundabouts in my general business item, the ones at Riddell Road and Gap Road…are struggling,” Cr Bell said.
“They are only one lane into the roundabout… in a number of situations where a vast majority of people would like to turn left on Elizabeth Drive onto Gap Road or onto Vineyard Road, they’re unable to do that because they’re waiting behind a row of 20 cars who are all trying to go straight ahead or turn right, and ultimately it creates massive backlogs.
“They’re have been two occasions where I’ve tried to exit onto Elizabeth Drive between these two roundabouts, only to find traffic is backed up from Riddell Road, almost all the way past Sunbury West Primary, almost all the way to the fire station on Gap Road.
“That’s about two and a half kilometres of road, the roundabout is no longer functioning and handling the capacity it needs to and neither is the one at Gap Road,” he said.
While Elizabeth Drive is under the jurisdiction of Hume council, Riddell and Gap roads are both state government roads.
“There’s a layer of challenge and complexity there in trying to get some improvements at these roundabouts,” Cr Bell said.
He said he did not believe traffic lights would be a solution at these particular intersections because he was “a believer in roundabouts… if only drivers knew how to use them properly”.
Cr Bell said he looked forward to seeing the officer’s report on upgrades and to “rattle the cage to get them done”.
