By Alesha Capone
Wyndham council says the additional costs caused by the lengthy delay in finishing the Tarneit and Hogans roads intersection upgrade “are yet to be finalised”.
The $6 million upgrade of the intersection should have been finished by October 2017. But design changes to avoid disrupting water, gas, electricity and drainage systems, and delays involving VicRoads and Powercor, have been among the reasons given for the 2.5-year hold-up on the project.
Traffic lights installed at the intersection were finally turned on last week, after Wyndham council negotiated with VicRoads and Powercor to set up a generator to power the lights until power is restored to the site.
Wyndham council’s director of city operations, Stephen Thorpe said the council did not yet know the full extent of the financial impact caused by the project’s hold-up.
“The delays to this project will result in additional costs, which have yet to be finalised,” he said.
“The final costs won’t be known until the project has been completed and all variations claims have been assessed and settled.”
After the traffic lights were turned on, Wyndham mayor Mia Shaw said drivers could “now expect a safer trip down Tarneit Road, and get to where they need to go faster – especially during the morning and evening peak”.
“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,” she said.
The upgrade included an extra lane being installed 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.
More than 20,000 cars travel through Tarneit Road north of Hogans Road each day.
