By Esther Lauaki
Dozens of Wyndham residents took to state parliament to protest the plans for the removal of the area’s three level crossings.
The small group, driven by the Wyndham Infrastructure Network, describe the state’s preferred designs for the removal of the two railway crossings at Werribee and Cherry streets and the third at Old Geelong Road as a “quick-fix”.
The protest followed the recent adoption of a revised design for a new road bridge, getting rid of the Cherry Street level crossing, which will be built east of the existing crossing to connect Tarneit Road and the Princes Highway.
Cherry Street will then be closed permanently.
Plans also include a well-lit, accessible pedestrian underpass to maintain pedestrian and cyclist access to homes and local shops.
But the network seeks to “pause” any construction on the Cherry Street project to explore the idea of a tunnel instead of the government’s proposed road and railway bridge designs.
Network spokeswoman Susan McRae said the group wanted the best options for Wyndham.
“The whole idea is to retain some sort of beauty and create a space with the facilities that people bought into Werribee for,” Ms McRae.
The group described the government’s designs as rushed and flawed.
“We’re asking our state MPs to pause and listen to our very real, valid concerns about the current Cherry Street level crossing removal plans,” a spokesperson posted on the Network Facebook page.
“We want them to know it’s not okay to spend hundreds of millions of our taxpayer dollars on a rushed, flawed design that will not only bring increased traffic congestion, but create multiple back roads rat runs, turning once quiet streets into main roads.”
Major work on the Cherry Street project is expected to start next year.
