By BRIDGET SCOTT
A TROUBLESOME Clyde North road maintained by the Cardinia Shire Council has been the hot topic of conversation for a group of frustrated residents.
Corrugated and the scene of several accidents, McCormacks Road has caused a stir among its residents who are fed up with its constant bad condition.
Sue Miller, who has lived along the road since 2000, said there were “heaps of accidents along here”.
“The road is dangerous,” she said.
“Since the freeway opened, it became a popular road to use to cut through – the traffic is unbelievable.”
Previously owned by the City of Casey, the boundary road came under the jurisdiction of the Cardinia shire more than five years ago.
Cardinia Shire Council’s co-ordinator of operations Mark Howard said the road was “proactively inspected every 12 weeks in accordance with council’s road management plan”.
“Any defects identified during these inspections are scheduled for maintenance.
“Road users may report an issue with a road to council and these requests generate an additional inspection,” he said.
He said McCormacks Road has been graded 11 times in the past year and was last graded on Tuesday this week.
“Unfortunately, the dry weather is causing an increase in corrugations,” he said.
Ms Miller said there were three accidents within a six-week period along the road, and last October a young woman flipped her car.
Ms Miller’s neighbour Kerry Bolver has also taken issue with the road and said the residents would ultimately like the City of Casey to take over the road again.
Councillor Geoff Ablett said the road was in a very unsafe state, and he had had reports of people driving along it at two to three kilometres per hour.
At a council meeting on Tuesday night, he asked that officers have further discussions with Cardinia council regarding the issues Casey residents have with the maintenance of the road.
“We need to find a sensible solution, something needs to be done,” he said.
Councillor Ablett also suggested that the CEOs of both councils get together and come back with a report in a month’s time to find a solution.
Ms Bolvers said it was a major safety issue and the road had a high volume of traffic.
“A lot of people use it as shortcut from Cranbourne to Pakenham and vice versa,” she said.
Ms Bolvers said none of the residents had been able to get in contact with Cardinia Shire Council staff.
