New road safety barriers have been installed along Thompsons Road.
Minister for Roads and Road Safety Ben Carroll said works to install life-saving barriers along Thompsons Road between the Mornington Peninsula Freeway and Narre Warren Road build on improvements delivered last year through the State Government’s Thompsons Road Upgrade.
As part of this upgrade, Thompsons Road was dupliacted between Frankston-Dandenong and Berwick-Cranbourne Road, while an extra lane was added in sections and a number of intersections including the intersection for Thomson’s Road and Frankston-Dandenong Road were replaced.
While roadside barriers were already in place along some road sections, new barriers have been installed on the centre median and left-hand side and aim to provide a safer journey by reducing the risk of head-on and run-off-road crashes.
Barriers work by absorbing much of the force in a collision, reducing the impact on drivers and passengers, and allowing the vehicle to come to a gradual standstill.
Between 2012 and 2016, there were 12 crashes recorded along this high-volume road, resulting in 13 people sustaining injuries, four of which suffered severe injuries.
“Thompsons Road is now safer and more reliable for all locals using this busy route each day,” Cranbourne MP Pauline Richards said of the barriers.
“We thank motorists for their patience during these important works – these barriers help reduce the severity of crashes when they’re unavoidable.”
As part of the Victorian and Federal Government’s $245 million Road Safety Program, flexible safety barriers will also be installed at Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road and Narre Warren-North Road between Princes Highway to Thompson Road and Princes Highway to Fox Road in the coming months.
