By Fatima Halloum
About a dozen protesters gathered at Dohertys Road on September 1, calling on Wyndham council to fast track plans to fix the road.
Located in Tarneit, a section of dips in the structure of the road between Derrimut Road and Tarneit Road is prone to flooding and gaping potholes.
Wyndham resident Intaj Khan attended the protest to advocate for “immediate attention”.
“The Dohertys Road now is being too long left…the road is really bad,” he said.
“The road is quite deep and whenever the rain happens, even the small rain, it always gets flooded.
“During the night, there’s not [enough] light [so] even without the [rain] you [could] still get hurt.“
Wyndham council director of city operations Stephen Thorpe said that while the council understood some residents were frustrated a the state of the road, council is doing its best to upgrade and repair as many roads as possible throughout the municipality.
“Being one of Australia’s fastest growing cities, we simply cannot keep up with the demand, and require the continual assistance of state and federal governments to assist in building much needed infrastructure,” Mr Thorpe said.
Protestors also called for state government intervention, however a Department of Transport spokesperson confirmed Dohertys Road between Derrimut and Tarneit Road is a municipal road and Wyndham council is responsible for the construction, inspection, maintenance and repair of the road.
“This section of Dohertys Road is the sole responsibility of the Wyndham City Council,” the spokesperson said.
Mr Thorpe said council anticipated the reconstruction and duplication of Dohertys Road would take about two years to complete.
“As previously advised, we are currently undertaking preliminary design of the road realignment at Dohertys Road which will see the road shifted south towards the Emerald Estate and full duplication,” he said.
“The new road alignment will include a 45 metre-wide road reserve which will include the reconstruction of Dohertys Road from Tarneit Road to match into recent intersection works with Sapling Boulevard.”
Wyndham council announced in late August it would temporarily close the road for two weeks to repair the road pavement damaged by water inundation.
“If anyone is listening to us, if anyone cares about it, we need this road to be fixed. If it’s not fixed, we will continue raising our voice,” Mr Khan said.
