Travel delays during Drouin carpark works

Traffic travelling into and out of Drouin’s central business district via Main South Rd, already frequently congested, will face further problems for the next fortnight.

As part of works associated with the extension of the railway station car park, east of the overhead railway bridge, one outbound lane on Main South Rd between the bridge and Poster Place will be closed until Friday, September 2, from 9.30am to 3.30pm each day as a right hand turn lane into Montague Ave is installed.

The “Car Park Commuters Team” has distributed notices in the town advising of the closure stating the road will be fully open at peak morning and afternoon times to minimise impacts (on traffic).

Main South Rd is the main access to and from the south to the Drouin town centre and connection to Princes Way.

Construction authority, the Level Crossing Removal Project, said the extended parking area would provide an additional 40 parking spaces with access via an existing entry point from Montague Ave.

It said safe access was a major consideration when planning the new parking area and had been done in consultation with Regional Roads Victoria and after traffic assessments of the impact on Main South Rd and Montague Ave.

The Main South Rd entrance to the site will be closed. Program director Andrew Pepplinkhouse said as well as the extra 40 car parking spaces the project would provide bicycle parking, lighting and CCTV cameras.

Pedestrian access to the station will be via an underpass beneath the rail bridge linking to the existing parking area on the southern side of the station.

Mr Pepplinkhouse said the remainder of the VicTrack owned land would be used as an access point for V/Line and VicTrack to the rail corridor for ongoing maintenance activities on the rail line.

Owner of the adjacent Old Drouin Butter Factory premises, Fox Corporation Australia, raised questions about safety aspects with access to the car park and remaining land owned by VicTrack, possibly by heavy vehicles and machinery, only being from Montague Ave after the entrance from South Rd is closed.

Montague Ave serves a public park and residential area.