Oscar Parry
Hume council will write to the state government to seek duplication of a section of Sunbury Road and interim improvements to the median barrier.
The council will address the letter to the state Minister for Roads and Road Safety Melissa Horne to request this commitment.
The section referred to spans from the end of the Tullamarine Freeway to Oaklands Road.
Councillor Jack Medcraft, who raised the notice of motion at the August 12 Hume council meeting, said that as the road is a single lane with an emergency lane, excessive traffic congestion is created when four lanes of the Tullamarine Freeway merge into one.
“If you come up there at five o’clock … you find that the traffic is banked back well towards the airport … you could be stuck in traffic there for at least 45 minutes just to get on Sunbury Road,” Cr Medcraft said.
He said that before the median barrier was installed, the road was especially dangerous.
“Many years ago, coming to council, I was almost wiped out by a car doing a U-turn in front of us … it would have been catastrophic.”
Cr Medcraft said that if the emergency lane was converted to an additional regular lane, the surrounding land could be used to drive on in an emergency situation instead.
“The government body, they came out and they put the barrier – which was welcomed, and they also did the road … It looked like they were going to do two lanes both ways, but instead they put out one lane and the emergency lane, and yet there’s a mile of free land that you could drive on when you’re in trouble.”
He said that the section of road in focus is especially dangerous in dark driving conditions, calling for improvements to the visibility of the median barriers with reflective paint.
“You’ve got four lanes going into one lane, which is a disaster in the night time …. And especially if it’s been raining, you can’t see the rail. They’ve got reflectors on the top of them but they don’t get cleaned,” he said.
“I’m hoping this one does get some air, and the Minister looks at it seriously.”
Councillor Jodi Jackson and Councillor Jarrod Bell also expressed concerns around the safety of the road, with Cr Jackson adding that the danger is increased with additional truck traffic from major projects.
The state government was contacted for comment.
