By Jessica Micallef
Hume council has approved a planning permit to develop a service station and restaurant in Sunbury, despite traffic concerns
The application proposed to build a service station and restaurant at 5 Moore Road, near the intersection of Vineyard and Moore roads, Sunbury.
However no traffic signalisation at Moore and Vineyard roads, was included as part of the proposal.
A traffic report conducted in April detailed the proposed service station could “reasonably” operate without signalisation at the intersection.
During last Monday’s council meeting, Cr Jack Medcraft said although he supported the proposal, he was concerned with the traffic flow on Vineyard Road as motorists approached Moore Road.
He said dropping the speed limit on Vineyard Road from 80km/h to 60km/h was necessary to ensure motorist and cyclist safety if the site was built.
“This report was taken when COVID-19 was in full operation so the number of cars wouldn’t have been the same if we were in a normal situation,” he said.
“That road [Vineyard Road], at night time, carries a hell of a lot of traffic.
“You have two lanes of traffic going into Sunbury and you have two lanes of traffic going out of Sunbury and you have a centre median strip where people sit and hope to pass.
“My concern is that intersection, and with that speed, there will be accidents. There are accidents now but with the number of cars going in and out of that service station, I have some trepidation.”
Cr Leigh Johnson said a heavy amount of motorists use Vineyard Road as they come off the Calder Freeway and enter Sunbury.
“As an emergency services worker, I have attended crashes on that road,” he said.
“It concerns me that there is no signalisation that will be put there, in particular when we get to building the service station.”
As part of the proposal, there will be truck and car refuelling areas and four bowsers to accommodate eight filling points.
More than 30 car park spaces, including two disabled spaces have been proposed and the restaurant can hold 48 patrons.
