A Hampton Park resident says he has been left “beyond frustrated” after waiting nearly 18 months and making six calls to VicRoads for the overgrown grass on a median strip on a road to be cut.
The overgrown median strip is located between Warana Drive and Somerville Road in the suburb.
Local resident Dennis Luke first rang VicRoads in February 2024 to request more regular mowing of the median strip between Coral and Fordham Roads and Pound Road.
According to Dennis, what followed has been a series of half-done jobs and outright misinformation.
“After Christmas in February, I decided to ring VicRoads. I said that the grass hadn’t been mowed for quite a while between Coral Fordham and Pound Road. They said that it’ll get completed within the next couple of months,” he recalled.
“When it did get done, it was November.
“To their credit, VicRoads mowed the two long sections, between Warana Drive and Pound Road, and again between Somerville Road and Coral Fordham Drive. But the middle stretch, the small section between Warana Drive and Somerville Road, has been ignored ever since.
“Since then, I’ve made five phone calls to various VicRoads staff, all without results.”
To make matters worse, Dennis said Transport Victoria recently texted him claiming the strip between Coral Fordham and Pound Road was mowed in April this year, which is true, but again, the middle section was left untouched.
The resident said the lack of transparency around subcontractors added to his frustration.
“I haven’t been able to find out who the subcontractor is. VicRoads won’t tell me,” he said.
Dennis described his experience dealing with VicRoads as “frustrating”.
“Probably worse than frustrating. Have a look at synonyms and find a word that’s worse than frustrating,” he said.
“Another failure of the State Government.
“Local residents are just as frustrated. They’ve given up.
“Not only does the neglected strip look terrible, but the last time it was touched, the mowing tore straight through young trees, leaving a mangled mess.”
The persistent local also believed that for a growing community like Hampton Park, there should be more frequent mowing.
“They now say it’ll only be mowed ‘every couple of months’, meaning just two or three times a year,” Dennis said.
“For a growing community like Hampton Park, that’s unacceptable.”
When inquired, a Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) spokesperson said: “Our crews will inspect roadside areas across Hampton Park in the coming days, with mowing expected to ramp up across Victoria this month as part of our $976 million Better Roads Blitz.”
According to DTP, they work alongside councils and emergency services to plan their mowing and vegetation management programs.
Their crews mow, slash, and spray around 45,000 kilometres of roadside grass and weeds each year, and they prioritise the work that will have the greatest impact on public safety and assess all public reports accordingly.
