Cranbourne Chamber of Commerce president Derek West and Casey mayor Kevin Bradford promote the Cranbourne Bypass campaign with bumper stickers.By Sarah Schwager
THE Cranbourne Chamber of Commerce is bumping up calls for a bypass in Cranbourne.
Chamber president Derek West has expressed support for the Casey Council-driven campaign by plastering bumper stickers on cars at his Ford dealership.
Mr West said the chamber was lobbying for the road diversion of High Street to help improve the town’s centre and boost business.
“We see that the bypass is necessary and integral to the central business district in Cranbourne becoming a proper town centre,” he said.
The stickers, which read ‘Cranbourne’s heart needs a bypass’, have been placed on cars throughout the Freeway Ford car lot on the South Gippsland Highway.
Mr West said the biggest issue was the speed at which the traffic ran through the town.
“The town centre should be a place where people are happy to come and shop and have lunch and dinner,” he said.
“The way it is currently designed it doesn’t invite that sort of activity.”
Mr West said more focus should be put on footpaths and streetscaping.
Casey mayor Kevin Bradford said he was delighted to see such an innovative and colourful spectacle in support of the bypass campaign, which he launched earlier this year.
Last month Victorian Transport Minister Peter Batchelor labelled the duplication of Berwick-Cranbourne Road, of which works have already begun, as the bypass Cranbourne needed.
But Cr Bradford said the duplication would not have any significant impact on current traffic volumes in High Street.
He said the diversion of High Street would improve pedestrian safety and breathe life back into Cranbourne’s main shopping centre.
Mr West said people were going to Mornington or Berwick to eat or shop in more “aesthetically pleasing surroundings”.
“Without being disrespectful to the traders in the main street, there is not enough to attract people on a casual basis,” he said.
Mr West said while having the traffic drive past the front of Freeway Ford was better for his business, as a “responsible citizen” he said it was important to get behind the bypass campaign.
