By Staff Reporter
It’s been a long time coming, but the traffic lights at the Tarneit and Hogans roads intersection have been switched on today.
The $6 million project – which included an extra lane in each direction between Hogans Road and Caraleena Drive, traffic lights at the Good News Lutheran College entrance, and a doubling in the size of the Tarneit and Hogans roads intersection – was originally slated to be finished by October 2017.
Design changes to avoid disrupting water, gas, electricity and drainage systems, and delays involving VicRoads and Powercor, have been among the reasons for the 2.5-year hold-up on the project.
Wyndham mayor Mia Shaw said the council had negotiated with VicRoads and Powercor to set up a generator to power the traffic lights at the busy intersection until permanent power is restored.
“We are now waiting on VicRoads and Powercor to approve and connect a permanent power supply to this intersection and the new set of lights in front of Good News Lutheran College, which is expected to happen in the next couple of months,” Cr Shaw said.
More than 20,000 cars travel through Tarneit Road north of Hogans Road each day, making it one of Wyndham’s busiest arterials.
Cr Shaw said the upgraded intersection would improve traffic flow and cut travel times, by removing the bottleneck that previously occurred when Tarneit Road dropped to a single lane on either side between Hogans Road and Caraleena Drive.
“Drivers can now expect a safer trip down Tarneit Road, and get to where they need to go faster – especially during the morning and evening peak,” Cr Shaw said.
“We apologise to drivers for any inconvenience caused during the road works and thank the wider community for its patience while we delivered this important piece of infrastructure.”
