Driven round the bend

What concerned Kooweerup resident Gary King's improved signage to prohibit overtaking could look like. (Digitally altered picture) 154661 Picture: ROB CAREW

By ANEEKA SIMONIS

AUTHORITIES have outlined long-term safety upgrades to a fatal traffic hotspot in Pakenham South.
However the unfunded plans will take years to implement and the delay has brought calls for immediate changes to protect motorists.
Healesville-Kooweerup Road has been the site of several fatal and non-fatal collision in the past few months including the most recent where a 27-year-old Wantirna South man lost his life on Friday 13 May.
There are plans to duplicate the road to two lanes each way.
However those plans are years away and the State Government is yet to commit funding to the project and VicRoads is yet to carry out any formal surveys or cost analysis.
Kooweerup resident Gary King said “he does not accept” the bureaucratic hold-up and has urged authorities to act immediately to protect lives.
He proposed a separate, short-term strategy to improve the road, focussed largely on the dangerous three-kilometre S-bend section.
The plan includes:
* Install a ‘No overtaking for the next 3 kms’ sign either side of the bend;
* Install double lines prohibiting motorists from overtaking on the bend;
* Remove the scrub obstructing motorists’ vision on the left-hand side of the bend between the Ellett Road and Soldiers Road intersection.
* Reduce speed along the bend to 80km/h.
“There are times when authorities need to protect road users from themselves and the actions need to be in place due to the recently recorded fatalities,” he said.
He added that about half of the bend section currently permits overtaking.
The plan was put to VicRoads which was not available to comment before the Gazette’s deadline.
A spokesperson for the Minister for Roads Luke Donnellan said that VicRoads had not yet undertaken any cost analysis or formal surveys to improve the road and that no state funding commitments had been made.
“Where an upgrade is required, the Government will consider funding under a future program alongside other road safety priorities across the state,” the spokesperson said.
Mr King renewed calls to state and federal representatives, including McMillan MP Russell Broadbent, Flinders MP Greg Hunt and Bass MP Brian Paynter, to advocate for immediate action.
“They should be pointing out to VicRoads that the problems in the three-kilometre section of road are separate to the duplication project that will take many years to achieve,” he said.
“The road users and the families who lost loved ones in the recent fatal accidents are fed up with waiting as the problems within the three-kilometre section of the Healesville-Kooweerup are real and must be rectified now.”
A VicRoads spokesperson said the short-term proposal will soon be assessed by road engineers.
Cardinia Shire Council’s Manager for Infrastructure Services Andrew Barr said the council regularly advocates for funding to upgrade roads but could not develop the plan because the road was a State Government responsibility.