Cade Lucas
New road infrastructure is designed to ease traffic congestion, improve safety and make it quicker and easier for drivers to get around, but according to residents of one Werribee street, a new overpass has done the opposite.
Trevor Ryan lives in Glenluss Street, Werribee, near the Tarneit Road overpass that crosses the Werribee train line and was completed in 2021.
Mr Ryan said the new overpass had resulted in an increase in traffic on his small suburban street.
“Primarily since the Tarneit Road overpass has been put in, people are using Glenluss Street as a shortcut onto Railway Avenue or Scottsburn Grove to avoid the lights on Tarneit Road and Railway Avenue,” he said.
“After Covid when it started getting busy again when people were getting back to work that’s when they started using Glenluss Street in peak times as a raceway to avoid the lights.”
The intersection of Tarneit Road and Railway Avenue now has traffic lights at the bottom of the overpass whereas previously there was a roundabout at what was the end of Tarneit Road.
Mr Ryan said the intersection was now a choke point for traffic trying to get through Werribee.
“They’ve made an absolute mess of the road, it blocks up and you’ve got a lot of traffic going into a single lane.
What ultimately happens is people don’t want to go through Werribee so they’re going the Cotterell Street ford so it completely blocks up and they’re using our street as a shortcut.”
Mr Ryan said the situation was particularly bad during the afternoon peak and was made worse by drivers rat-running at speeds well above the 50kmh limit.
“Our major concern is because cars are coming up this street at 80kmh, kids are riding their bikes, pets are going out on the street and it’s very dangerous.
It’s a little tiny residential street. It’s not a street built for that speed” said Mr Ryan who added that residents had nearly had accidents while backing out of their driveways and that road rage incidents had been observed too.
He wants Wyndham council to install speed humps in Glenluss Street and ban drivers turning into the street at certain times of the day.
A spokesperson for Wyndham council said they were aware of concerns about traffic in the area and that upgrades to water mains by Greater Western Water were contributing to the congestion near the intersection of Tarneit Road and Railway Avenue.
“Wyndham City will conduct a traffic volume review once Greater Western
Water has completed path and road pavement reinstatement works associated
with the installation of new water mains.”
