By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
THE State Government has promised that Lyndhurst’s congested Thompsons Road level crossing will be gone by 2019 while the acquisition of private land is currently under investigation.
Delivered as part of the Thompsons Road duplication, the busy thoroughfare is under numerous reviews before construction starts.
Earlier this year locals likely to have land acquired under the Public Acquisition Overlay (PAO) on Thompsons Road were contacted by VicRoads.
Surveys on cultural heritage, flora and fauna and geotechnical investigations were undertaken a part of the meetings and formal landowner consultations were still to come.
No homes have been approached for acquisition at this point but a spokesperson for the Minister for Roads said VicRoads was currently developing a business case for the duplication and level crossing removal.
“When the scope of the project is finalised we can then provide greater certainty to residents within the existing PAO,” they said.
With close to 26,000 cars using Thompsons Road every day the spokesperson said the upgrade was a “very important part of our road network and needs a significant and in-depth planning process”.
VicRoads released a survey in October for Thompsons Road users and have since received 1577 individual responses to which they are currently analysing.
The State Government provided $20.5 million towards the planning and pre-construction work for the duplication and the minister’s spokesperson said the cost of construction was yet to be determined.
