MP: Traffic ‘beyond a joke’

By Alesha Capone

Western metropolitan MP Bernie Finn has described traffic on three Wyndham roads as “beyond a joke”.

In Parliament last week, Mr Finn said: “Traffic on Palmers Road, Sayers Road and Point Cook Road has never been great, but it is now way beyond a joke and is getting worse every day.

“Even during non-peak times traffic on these roads is often horrendous.”

Mr Finn said one of his constituents had contacted him on March 19, to say her commute from Point Cook to Sunshine had taken more than 90 minutes that day.

Mr Finn said “this insanity” could not be allowed to continue and asked when Wyndham residents could expect to receive “desperately needed relief from hopelessly crowded roads”.

VicRoads’ acting regional director metro north west Fatima Mohamed said the organisation was “committed to improving the safety of Wyndham’s roads”.

“We’re now delivering the biggest road maintenance blitz ever seen across suburban Melbourne and as part of this we’ll be filling potholes and fixing roads right across Wyndham, making the city’s road safer and more reliable,” she said.

Ms Mohamed said the $1.8 billion Western Roads Upgrade would rebuild eight roads across Wyndham, including Derrimut, Leakes, Dunnings and Palmers roads.

The construction of eight main road projects being delivered as part of the Western Roads Upgrade is expected to finish by 2021.

The upgrade also includes a 20-year program to improve and maintain more than 260 kilometres of roads between Footscray and Werribee, from 2021 to 2041.