By Charlene Macaulay
Wyndham will be free of boom-gate pain by 2025 under a Labor Party plan to scrap the third and final level crossing in the city.
The state government has announced that it will remove the Hoppers Crossing level crossing if it is re-elected at the upcoming state election, adding another 25 level crossing removals to its current schedule of 50. The Werribee and Cherry street crossings have already been earmarked for removal by 2022.
Werribee MP Tim Pallas said the Old Geelong Road level crossing at Hoppers Crossing station had been identified for removal through a selection framework that prioritised level crossings that have high risks of incidents, cause excessive traffic congestion and impede access to important facilities.
Mr Pallas said there had been three serious accidents at the level crossing since 2005 and 20 near-misses. About 18,000 vehicles travel through the level crossing each day.
“What is clear is that this crossing meets this criteria, certainly in terms of safety, efficiency and community connectiveness,” he said.
“From our perspective, one of the key issues here is the amount of time the boom gates are down – about 36 per cent of time during the morning peak.”
A construction timeline for the level crossing removal is yet to be determined. Mr Pallas said it had not been decided whether all three Wyndham crossings would be removed at the same time.
He said that while the government’s preferred option to remove the level crossing was to add a road overpass over the rail line, it would consult the community before determining a design option.
When asked why Hoppers Crossing didn’t make the original list of 50 removals, Mr Pallas said: “There was 180 of them in metropolitan Melbourne, and everybody has to get their fair share in this process”.
Wyndham council has long campaigned for the government to add Hoppers Crossing to its level-crossing removals.
On his mayoral Facebook account, Wyndham mayor Peter Maynard called the move a “game changer” for Hoppers Crossing.
“The commitment will ease congestion issues that our community has dealt with for too many years,” Cr Maynard wrote.
