By VICTORIA STONE-MEADOWS
CASEY MP Tony Smith has pledged to say goodbye to the Montrose roundabout if the Coalition wins the upcoming election.
As part of a major upgrade to Canterbury Road, the roundabout at Montrose will be replaced with traffic lights and a third lane added to Canterbury Road from Dorset Road to Mount Dandenong Tourist Road.
The upgrade will cost a total of $20 million and see bus stops and pedestrian crossings upgraded as part of the package.
Mr Smith made the announcement with the Minister for Major Projects, Territories and Local Governments, Paul Fletcher, on the morning of Tuesday 31 May.
“I’ve been fighting to have this included as part of our roads package; we have a local roads package as well as a Victorian road package,” Mr Smith said.
“The Minister has heard me on this in Canberra and it’s great to have him here in Montrose.”
Mr Fletcher praised Mr Smith’s work in securing this funding promise and said replacing the roundabout would greatly benefit commuters.
“You only need to look at how heavy the traffic here is, this is clearly a really vital intersection,” Mr Fletcher said.
“Once (the roundabout) is replaced with traffic lights, it will assist traffic flow from people from all directions, particularly in the morning and evening when the commuter traffic is very intense.”
Mr Smith and Mr Fletcher both spoke of the importance of updated road infrastructure for tourism and the local economy as well.
“The importance of road infrastructure for economic efficiency and our local prosperities is something the Turnbull Government is very conscious of,” Mr Fletcher said.
Yarra Ranges Council’s Director Environment and Engineering Mark Varmalis said removing the roundabout and upgrading Canterbury Road would solve ongoing traffic issues for that area of the shire.
“In practical terms, what we see every night is traffic stretching back from the roundabout close to two to three kilometres all the way to Liverpool Road,” he said.
“That traffic is trying to get to the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges every night so they start to look for alternate routes, diving through local roads which are in some cases very narrow.
“This is not ideal for local communities experiencing that overflow.”
Candidates for both Labor and The Greens for Casey have slammed the proposal, saying that the community wasn’t consulted.
“I’m disappointed that Tony Smith announced these changes before consulting our community,” Labor candidate Hovig Melkonian said.
“Replacing the Montrose roundabout with traffic lights is a major change – I’m disappointed that a community consultation process hasn’t occurred before this announcement.”
Greens Candidate for Casey Elissa Sutherland said the funding for this announcement was a bold move by the Coalition, but hadn’t been properly thought out.
“One might think we are becoming a marginal electorate,” she said.
“It should not depend on a federal election for those services and commitments to be made. We have no evidence of a community consultation process or of how this proposed project stacks up against others.
“For this reason, it is impossible for any political party to say whether this project deserves funding.”
Ms Sutherland said there should be more of a priority to fund public transport infrastructure than further developing roads.
“The Greens’ position is to prioritise public transport funding over roads,” she said.
“Unless we move away from the continual construction of roads and road widening and start real investment in public transport we will never see the transformative change we need to reduce congestion in our cities and suburbs.”
Ms Sutherland said continuing the development of road infrastructure did not benefit the local population and more focus should be put on local jobs.
“We need to get serious about increasing local employment and creating resilient local economies not dependent on the majority of wage earners having to leave the area and commute to the city to earn an income.”
Mr Melkonian said wider roads through Montrose risked the area’s charms and would not commit to funding the project unless further consultation with the community was undertaken.
“Labor will not commit to funding this project at this stage. The reason I say this stage is because there hasn’t been community consultation yet.”
“Labor and I are prioritising ongoing funding to the Roads to Recovery program,” he said.
“(That’s) $7.2 million for Yarra Ranges council and $1.56 million for Maroondah council over the next two years to repair our local roads.
“How that money is spent will be subject to comprehensive consultation before making any final announcement.”
