By Charlene Macaulay
Two long-overdue traffic upgrades could still be incomplete by the new year following lengthy and costly delays.
Significant changes to underground gas, electricity and water services have been blamed for the delays behind the Tarneit Road duplication and intersection upgrade, which should have been finished in October 2017.
In July, Wyndham council city operations director Stephen Thorpe told Star Weekly that the works were expected to be completed by October 2018, now a revised completion date of mid-November has been given for the council’s works on this project.
But the wait won’t stop there, with the responsibility then falling on VicRoads and Powercor to connect the traffic signals, “which could take several more weeks”.
Mr Thorpe said delays to the $6 million project had resulted in additional costs, which had yet to be finalised.
Once complete, the road upgrade will include 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.
Meanwhile, pedestrian lights installed at the corner of Dunnings Road and Main Street in Point Cook before Christmas, 2017, have yet to be switched on and a school crossing supervisor has been employed at the intersection in response to concerns from the community regarding the safety of children using the crossing for school.
Mr Thorpe said land title conflicts that date back to the original development of the Point Cook Town Centre meant that power cabling and signal hardware had to be relocated.
“This is expected to be completed in the next few weeks and then VicRoads and Powercor will be able to connect the lights.”
Mr Thorpe said the total cost of the originally quoted $250,000 project would be available once works were complete.
