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Thursday, 10 August, 2023
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Trapped by works By Emily Laing Residents in Cranbourne East say they are “trapped“ after the road closures were introduced on both ends of Linsell Boulevard. Locals living in the nearby Hunt Club and Livingston Estates say getting out of their estates is “an absolute nightmare“ as the number of roads experiencing closures and roadworks piles up. “Especially around school times, it takes 20 minutes or more just to exit the estate,“ Nathan Tennyson said. “I just wanted milk, took me an hour to get it,“ Andrew Feather said. Cascades Clyde resident Maggie Rose said her estate “can only exit onto Linsell Boulevard“. “It’s frustrating to have people in leadership care so little for how these works have impacted our area,“ she said. “Upgraded roads are great but the competency of the people handling these upgrades has become questionable.“ Livingston resident Casey Bree said it took her “20 minutes just get to the traffic lights at Berwick-Cranbourne Road“. “Then another 15 minutes to get to my children’s primary school that is 2.7km from my house,“ she said. “So that’s 35 minutes to get my children to school which normally would take me 6-7 mins max.“ Christina Allan, who lives a mere 1.6 kilometres from St Peter’s College, said it took her “40 minutes“ to get there because of the roadworks. Member for Cranbourne Pauline Richards said she is asking for everyone’s “patience“ as they “drive through these major infrastructure projects“. “I understand this is a very difficult time for the Cranbourne East and Clyde North communities while we add extra lanes to Narre Warren - Cranbourne Road,“ she said. “We can all see a lot of high vis as we move
Linsell Boulevard and Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road. 351661 around our community, so please remember to slow down and allow extra time to keep our local construction workers safe. “I know the construction crews are working hard to open the roads as quickly as possible“. The road closures affecting Cranbourne residents come from a slew of different development entities, including Major Road Projects Victoria (MRPV), City of Casey and private developers. The intersecting projects led by these developers have led to a build up of road works in the Cranbourne area, as residents become boxed in by overlapping closures. The Linsell Boulevard works are being led by both MRPV and the City of Casey, with MRPV responsible for the new closures on Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road and the council overseeing the Clyde Road works. With the City of Casey running far behind
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Picture: STEWART CHAMBERS
in their scheduled development of Linsell Boulevard and Clyde Road, MRPV are now facing backlash as their works overlap with the blown-out schedule of the council. The Linsell Boulevard/Clyde Road works began in February 2022, and were set to be completed in November last year. Seventeen months later and locals are still waiting for full access to the road to be returned to them. The delay came from Melbourne Water’s refusal to grant approval for the council to construct an easement on their chosen location. The council has since gotten the “necessary approvals“ and work is expected to continue at the site. “Council acknowledges the disruptions caused by roadworks in the local community and the fatigue of ongoing roadworks for residents living in those areas,“ Trevor Griffin,
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Manager City Design and Construction said. “While Council has little influence over the scheduling of MRPV and Big Build Projects, we acknowledge there will be some inconvenience caused by these works in order to achieve the future benefits of new road infrastructure. “Council apologises for the inconveniences its construction works at Berwick-Cranbourne Rd (Clyde Road) have caused and appreciates the understanding and patience of the communities impacted by the construction works at either end of Linsell Boulevard.” The Clyde Road/Linsell Boulevard intersection is expected to be completed by the end of October 2023, subject to weather and traffic signal works. “We are working with our contractor and Department of Transport and Planning to bring works forward to re-establish left-in leftout traffic movement on the Berwick Cranbourne Road (Clyde Road) as soon as possible,“ Mr Griffin said. Major Road Projects Victoria Program Director Marc Peterson said MRPV has been working closely with the City of Casey and Department of Transport and Planning to allow left in-left out access from the City’s work site at the eastern end of Linsell Boulevard, with the intersection opening to traffic on Monday morning. “Once our upgrade is complete, Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road will become a straightthrough movement when travelling north from South Gippsland Highway, improving traffic flow and travel times for the 33,000 motorists who use the road every day,“ he said. “The upgrade to Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road is critical for locals and the hundreds of thousands of people living in the City of Casey. “We’ve made a number of signal and signage changes to improve traffic flow on detour routes and keep delays within advised timeframes.” Continued page 3
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