Traffic campaign taken to Farm World

The campaign by Baw Baw Shire council for the State Government to act to address traffic congestion and safety, especially in and around Warragul and Drouin, will be taken to residents and visitors that attend Farm World at Lardner Park on March 24 to 27.

The council stand will be open from 11am to 3pm on each of the four days with a focus on people adding their voices to council’s lobbying efforts to the State Government to plan, design and construct heavy vehicle bypasses, duplicate Princes Way between Warragul and Drouin and address hazardous and heavily used intersections in both towns.

It is an opportune time with the state budget due to be handed down in May.

Councillors and council officers will be on hand to explain how people can put their views to the government and opposition members of state parliament.

Mayor Michael Leaney said the aim was to minimise heavy vehicle traffic from the town centres, make travel safer and more convenient and provide more efficient transport routes for business and industry.

Taking its campaign to Farm World adds further to council’s lobbying efforts in building partnerships with local businesses, industries and community stakeholders including a recent online forum to hear industry views, a social media campaign that has drawn strong interest and an upcoming community forum.

A report to council estimated the road works it planned would reduce by 3500 the number of vehicles driving through the Drouin CBD each day and by 1300 vehicles a day in the Warragul CBD.

Council says the 100 yearold arterial road system serving the towns was already “past its use-by date,” an additional 20,000 homes are forecast to built in the two towns in “the next few years” and the population would double to 100,000 by 2035.

Cr Leaney said few people realised the arterial road system was not owned by council.

“They are State managed roads. But that doesn’t mean we are going to sit back and do nothing”.

We want the State Government to allocate $3 million in its upcoming budget to do the design works to cope with the level of growth we are, and will continue to be, experiencing, Cr Leaney stated.

The support of the community and local businesses will be crucial to getting this over the line, the mayor added.

Baw Baw Shire Ratepayers’ and Citizens’ Association has also taken up the case for something to be done to address the impact of high traffic loads generated by housing growth in Warragul and Drouin.

President Geoff Anderson said it was understood developments containing more than 10,000 new housing lots on the south side of Warragul were the subject of current or proposed planning applications.

All of the traffic from those estates would pass through the already overloaded roundabout on Korumburra Rd near the West Gippsland Hospital, he said.

Mr Anderson said after talks with Rural Roads Victoria recently he believed improvements to the Howitt St-Burke St intersection in Warragul, that had been rated “high priority”, had been shelved due to funding constraints.

Mr Anderson said commitments to funding of roads in the area should be sought from all candidates for the state seat of Narracan at the election late this year.