By BRIDGET SCOTT
A CRANBOURNE resident said he is concerned about alterations to Clarendon Street in Cranbourne following ongoing developments at Cranbourne Park.
President of the Cranbourne Rotary Club Ian Symons said drivers cannot use Clarendon Street as freely anymore because they cannot turn right out of the street or drive straight across.
He said this will restrict access to the main street for people who live in the west.
The Cranbourne man said he believed this would create problems for parents of children who attend schools nearby.
“A simple installation of a traffic light would have meant that crossing the town was possible,” he said.
“It’s really going to context Sladen Street end of town which already suffers during peak hours.”
Manager of Transport at the City of Casey Paul Hamilton confirmed that road users would now only be able to turn left out of the street.
He said that changes to the Clarendon Street and South Gippsland Highway intersection are being undertaken by Federation Centres through its development approval for the expansion of Cranbourne Park Shopping Centre.
“The development approval assessed the implications of increased traffic movements together with changes to the local network to facilitate the expansion of the centre,” he said.
“The impacts of the development on the operation of intersections along the South Gippsland Highway was assessed by VicRoads.
“VicRoads supported the application subject to a number of permit conditions.
“One of the VicRoads conditions involved the modification of the Clarendon Street/ South Gippsland Highway intersection to remove the right turn and straight through movements out of Clarendon Street to ensure the safety of the intersection.”
Mr Symons said he believed developers of the centre “should be held to have responsibility to ensure traffic flow is able to move reasonably freely”.
