WORKS on road and rail networks are giving a whole new meaning to the term ‘Australian crawl’ for Calder commuters.
While rail passengers juggle timetable changes due to Regional Rail Link works, the normally red light-free trip for north-west road users has become a patchwork of speed limits and stop-start traffic as crews repair large tracts of asphalt damaged by consecutive years of floods and heatwaves.
From Calder Park Raceway to the Macedon Ranges, VicRoads contractors have put out witches hats and turned on flashing yellow warning lights, making for long hours on the road for peak-time travellers.
Opposite Calder Park Drive, $430,000 has been allocated for safety upgrades at the crossover into Organ Pipes Road from the freeway.
These works will ultimately block south-bound traffic from accessing Calder Park Drive, which has been the site of numerous crashes as motorists run the gauntlet of outgoing city traffic at the end of an 80km/h section.
The works are part of a $1.28 million project to make the freeway safer on its approach to the city. A third lane will be created for inbound traffic between Green Gully Road and the M80 Ring Road. Street lighting will be installed at the intersection of Calder Freeway and Calder Park Drive. The state government is awaiting the outcome of a submission to Infrastructure Australia for a full overpass interchange at the raceway intersection, for which the Calder Action Group has lobbied for over many years.
Spokesman Ian Sutherland said the group, which represents communities from Keilor to Kangaroo Flat, was “very pleased” with the injection of funds into freeway projects.
