A Sunbury business owner says he is “just one of hundreds of small businesses” facing challenges while Sunbury line upgrade road closures take place on Gap Road and Station Street from May 30 into late 2022.
Peter Ralph owns Rusty Owl Sunbury homewares and gift store in Evans Street Arcade and he believes his business will suffer a massive blow while works take place to build a rail bridge and road underpass between Evans and Horne streets.
“Sunbury people, if they want to browse, they think about the traffic congestion in that area,” Mr Ralph said.
“They think, ‘We’ll just go to Watergardens, we’ll just go somewhere else’, and I’ve seen it happen before.”
Mr Ralph has owned different businesses in Sunbury over 35 years and said with “a little bit of forethought” the road issues he and other owners are set to tackle “could have been avoided”.
He said he was frustrated with the support offered by the state government, which included inviting him to join a workforce business directory to encourage upgrade workers to shop in Sunbury – just four days before the deadline closed.
Star Weekly understands the internal workforce business directory will provide free listings to local shops.
RPV project director Damian Brizzi said the Gap Road level crossing will be “gone for good” by October, which would act as a boost for businesses and make it simpler to get around town.
“The project is providing support to local businesses while construction is underway, including the Shop Sunbury campaign that encourages people to support Sunbury businesses and offers some great prizes,” Mr Brizzi said.
However, Mr Ralph said he would have liked to see a third crossing in Sunbury before the current project took place.
“It’s local people not involved in the overall process … we’re not asked for our opinions on how we move forward,” Mr Ralph said.
Elsie Lange
