Emily Chapman Laing
Local families are moving homes in response to being barricaded by ongoing roadworks in Cranbourne and Clyde.
The roadworks continue to make small trips into lengthy journeys as major roads around Cranbourne are put under stress.
“It’s basically boxed everyone that lives in this area in, the whole entire area is locked in, it takes us hours now to do what used to be done in minutes before,” a local said.
Affected roads include Narre-Warren Cranbourne Road, Thompsons Road, Linsell Boulevard, Berwick-Cranbourne Road, Hardys Road and Ballarto Road, creating a network of road drama throughout the area.
“Our eldest daughter goes to Hillcrest College. From our place this should be approximately a 10-minute drive, nowadays some mornings it has taken us 45 minutes,” one local father said.
The distress has caused this father to uproot his family and move to a new home, simply to avoid the tension caused by the roadworks.
“We have decided in the middle of the year we will be selling up ourselves and moving to the other side of this mess next to the college so that my daughter can walk to school and we will be spared some headaches and be given some respite from all this madness.”
Katie Brennan and her family already made the move to their new home on Monday 6 March.
“Where [we] now live is a tiny house, nothing compared to the house we enjoyed living in in Clyde North, but the stress and the road rage from myself as well as others [was too much],” she said.
“The traffic is so bad that the other week I had 760 metres to my house and it was going to take me six minutes to get home.
“When you have had a big day at work [you] don’t want to spend two hours getting home.”
Council and Major Road Projects Victoria are operating on numerous important roads in the region simultaneously.
“This is not some back-end area, this is one of the most highly trafficked areas in all of Melbourne, it’s also one of the highest growth areas, and it’s also right in the way of several schools, a university, a public and private hospital, and many building and development projects.”
Residents in the area are suffering the brunt of haphazard construction, left wishing the project managers had given their wellbeing more consideration.
“[I] just [want council] to make it more realistic for the community who have to drop children and be at work without being later and later every day,” local woman Steph Porteous said.
“I know it has to happen but it just gets worse and they keep adding more and more locations which makes commutes impossible and frustrating for us and the employers we are trying to keep happy.”
As a fast growing residential area, the Casey region is seeing more and more estates being built, with new residents adding to the strain on our roads.
“Why don’t they prepare the roads before they allow huge estates to go in?” a local woman asked.
“They know ahead of time if they build 200 new houses they have to create a road.
“They wait for it to become a traffic disaster, then they go ‘Oh we have to fix this’, but because so many people now live and add to the traffic when they finally get around to it, people have 45 minutes travel time added to what should be a 10-minute trip.”
It’s not just drivers being affected, pedestrians are caught in the chaos as well.
“It’s been very difficult for walkers as well,” said local woman Kathleen Creaser Taylor.
“To walk around by the United service station, you have to walk where cars are coming in and out. It’s so dangerous.
“On Camms Road and Narre-Warren Cranbourne Road, they want you to cross twice, but I have almost been hit a few times with traffic coming out of Camms Road because they can’t see you trying to cross on the bend.”
Road closures at Ballarto Road in Clyde continue, with a 100-metre section of the road being closed off since November 2022.
Council has admitted to the closure being a response to the increasing development of residential estates.
“As the surrounding residential estates have developed, traffic volumes, including heavy construction vehicles and motorists accessing new residential neighbourhoods, have drastically increased which has led to faster degradation of the road’s surface,” they said.
“Despite council’s continued efforts to maintain the road at an appropriate condition, its maintenance needs have now become unsustainable.”
Locals are left questioning why the necessary roadworks failed to precede the addition of new housing estates.
Access to properties and businesses on Ballarto Road on either side of the closure were set to be maintained via the South Gippsland Highway and Clyde-Five Ways Road.
However, construction is set to begin at this intersection as well, leaving locals with fewer and fewer options to get around the region.
“The council [closed] Ballarto Road because they can’t be bothered maintaining it,” local Kate Reilly said.
“Those of us in Clyde have to go the long way around to reach the South Gippsland Highway.
“It needs to be upgraded now, not in five-plus years.
“There’s such poor foresight.”
Selandra Rise business owners have noted the lack of foresight in council planning as the back and forth continues between council and Melbourne Water.
Melbourne Water has commented on their refusal to grant an easement to council as part of the Linsell Boulevard roadworks in Clyde North, after being outed by council in February as the reason behind the four-month delay.
With numerous other works ongoing in the area, locals say there is little sense in starting projects that are without grants needed for completion to occur in a sensible timeframe.
While Melbourne Water and council navigate the easement kerfuffle, locals are left to attend to the incessant road drama, and few are happy about it.
The roadworks, which began in February 2022, were set to be completed in November.
However, recent projections have pushed the opening date for the road back to April, with some locals hearing it may even be extended to June.
When approached about the delay, a Melbourne Water spokesperson initially told Star News that Melbourne Water was not involved in the project.
Further investigation and questioning revealed they were indeed connected with the project, and that it is Melbourne Water’s refusal to grant an easement to council that is keeping the works from being completed, as Council reported last month.
“Melbourne Water received an application from Casey Council in relation to electrical works near the Clyde Rd and Linsell Boulevard intersection,” a Melbourne Water spokesperson said.
“Melbourne Water carefully reviewed the application and subsequently sought further information from the council in relation to proposed works within an area containing a Melbourne Water asset (underground drain).
“We continue to work with the council to determine as soon as practically possible final arrangements in relation to the potential creation of an easement on Melbourne Water land.”
Local man Rob Taylor said: “It’s not roadworks any more, it’s a standstill.”
