Road repairs

By Jade Lawton
THE City of Casey has made repairs to a section of Gloucester Avenue, Berwick, after a woman tripped on the uneven surface and smashed five of her teeth on the footpath last week.
But traders have slammed the quick-fix as a band-aid solution and called on Casey to repair and widen the busy road.
Berwick Village Chamber of Commerce President Harry Hutchinson saw the fall last Wednesday while he was setting up a nearby shop for a clearance sale.
“The sound of her face hitting the kerb was horrible,” he said.
“That road is a real disgrace … the road is so uneven and the footpath is broken, so it is hard for people of uneven footing.”
Lance Beckwith, of Diane’s Dry Cleaning Boutique, called the ambulance after the fall.
“My wife saw it and I looked up and raced out and brought her inside. There was a fair bit of blood and we sat her down and called the ambulance for her,” he said.
“I just felt sorry for the poor bugger. The footpath is absolutely disgraceful; it’s a hell of a hump in the road there. I don’t know how this hasn’t happened before.”
The woman was taken to Casey Hospital, where she required stitches to her chin, and later had her dentist see to the five broken teeth.
“It was fortunate I didn’t break any bones,” she said.
“I would say the heat last summer melted the asphalt. It looked to me like a car had driven through the area and made the asphalt rise up in to small mountain range. When I tripped I landed straight on my face and chin,” she said.
“The dry cleaner was fantastic, he and his wife came out and took me inside and put a towel under my chin. He was very caring.”
“I can understand how it happens, but they should go around and monitor it.”
The woman filed a complaint with Casey and council workers were out next Tuesday morning repairing the uneven surface she tripped on.
But one trader said the whole road was in need of repairs.
“There a whole lot of issues – the whole path is bad, and all council have done is fix one small patch,” they said.
“There are cracks, potholes and uneven surfaces … fixing the patch is not fixing the problem. It is a band-aid solution and we feel council is at fault here.
“The road is narrow, the buses travel so fast and the traders and residents are just sick of it.”
Robbie Anderson, owner of Café Revival, said he had seen a number of people trip over on the road. He said ideally the bottleneck needed to be widened.
“The road is so narrow; it is just beyond a joke. You can’t have buses going down Gloucester Avenue. It really needs widening, to be taken out a metre. During peak hour traffic it is really unacceptable.”
Mr Hutchinson said that while work was planned for Gloucester Avenue during Stage 3 of the Berwick Village Streetscape works, the repairs may need to be brought forward.
“That might not be until 2013. I just think it should be brought forward,” he said.
The City of Casey did not respond to inquiries before going to press.