Plans for aggressive bypass campaign

By Alison Noonan
CASEY council is bringing out the big guns in its battle to secure funding for the Cranbourne Bypass.
Councillors at last week’s council meeting vowed to become more aggressive in the bypass campaign, sending a clear message to VicRoads and the State Government that it would not back down until action was taken.
Mayfield Ward councillor Kevin Bradford claimed that ‘an aggressive and visual’ campaign was needed to prove it was serious about the urgent need to clear heavy trucks off the High Street.
Cr Bradford said the council needed to strike during election year while ‘the iron was hot’.
“The bypass is not there now and it won’t be unless VicRoads and the State Government wake up to the fact that it is a required part of the road network.
“The bypass is needed and required. I have said before that the Cranbourne township is bleeding and dying because of trucks using High Street, and I will say it again.
“We need a longrunning campaign and now is the time to strike.
“I don’t care what government does as long as it’s done,” he said.
Cr Bradford said the new campaign would include various advertising techniques such as roadside billboards, residential mail outs and print media.
He asked that council officers report back to councillors in September prior to implementing the campaign.
“This campaign must portray that we are serious. We need to keep it up, just like our Telstra campaign.
“I want council officers to determine what is involved in running this campaign, the associated costs and where we will get the money from.
“If it is all agreed then we can start the very next day,” he said.
Araluen Ward councillor Rob Wilson agreed, claiming a visual campaign was necessary to put the issue ‘right in people’s faces’.
“We need to make people realise that they can actually have a say to the State Government.
“The Cranbourne Chamber of Commerce is adamant that we campaign on its behalf and agree that now is the time to try to get the bypass funded,” he said.
However, Cranbourne MP Jude Perera said the 1999 Cranbourne Township Bypass Study found that an improved BerwickCranbourne Road/ClydeFive Ways Road would more effectively cater for regional through traffic than a new bypass.
He acknowledged that the amount of heavy traffic through High Street was of concern, but said the bypass was not the way to go.
“The impact of current and future traffic levels on the amenity of the Cranbourne Town Centre was one of the principal factors that brought about the 1999 study.
“The investigation compared two options to remove the traffic from the town centre the local Cranbourne Bypass utilising the existing reservation and an improved BerwickCranbourne Road/ClydeFive Ways Road.
“The study indicated that whilst a local Cranbourne Bypass may attract substantial traffic, it would primarily function as a local traffic distributor rather than a regional through route and would not meet the criteria for designation as an arterial road,” he said.