Sounding out alternatives

I HAVE lost count of the meetings I attended with Beaconsfield residents who are trying to have the government build noise barriers along the Berwick Bypass in the Soldiers Road area.
The barriers should have been built 10 years ago. I think, from memory, that this part of the Monash Freeway was built in the early 1980s, but without sound protection for residents.
I heard Narre Warren South MP Dale Wilson assure residents during his election campaign that the barriers would be built. He gave this assurance as a candidate for parliament and again after his election nearly four years ago, but the idea progressively became less urgent.
Residents say that VicRoads, the statutory body responsible for protecting them against freeway noise, keeps coming up with a changing priority that puts the Beaconsfield barriers further down the list.
The job has gone from Mr Wilson’s assurance that the barriers would be built to number six on the list.
Residents now say that despite being sixth on the list, barriers in the Stephensons Road area toward the city, listed as number eight on the priority, have been funded ahead of the Beaconsfield barriers. VicRoads also presented residents with a noise survey result that says traffic noise has diminished by 10 per cent since its previous survey. Well, it hasn’t.
Either the first survey was wrong or perhaps new equipment for the latest survey was more accurate. Nevertheless, both readings indicate that noise barriers should be built.
Under the present process these barriers will never be built unless residents force the government’s hand.
Residents say that a recent police helicopter and car chase during the second noise testing did not register on the equipment. If this is correct, more tests should be taken.
Physical protests on the freeway cannot be condoned because of the danger factor, but residents may need to be involved in some form of assertive action if they want some sleep. Independent noise surveys need to be taken and residents need to find out ‘positively’ what other works are ahead of their project. and should warn prospective buyers of new homes on the estate that there is a noise problem.
Too many people have told me that real estate agents assured them during their purchase process that the barriers would be built.
This is a factor that the council should deal with because it is misrepresentation of the facts available, but the City of Casey has been noticeably quiet on this issue.