Kooweerup chaos official

By Melissa Grant
IT’S official: motorists are bombarding Kooweerup’s three major roads.
Thousands of vehicles are clogging Rossiter Road, Station Street and Sybella Avenue each day, according to Cardinia Shire Council traffic count data collected throughout February.
And 10 per cent of the traffic is commercial vehicles, including trucks. The data shows the section of Rossiter Road between Sybella Avenue and Station Street as the busiest, with 9619 traffic movements a day.
Getting out of car parks in Station Street is fast becoming a nightmare for locals with an average of 8895 vehicles counted each day between Moody Street and Rossiter Road.
Sybella Avenue, the gateway to the South Gippsland Highway, is also busy with an average of 5813 and 6515 counted at two points.
Kooweerup Township Committee chairman Ray Brown said the results illustrated the gravity of the town’s traffic situation.
“You really have to force your way out when you park along Station Street,” he said.
Mr Brown said the counts showed there were serious traffic problems at the Rossiter Road and Station Street intersection.
“The number of cars banked up there (is unbelievable) and discourteous drivers won’t stop and let you out,” he said. “I understand a (Kooweerup) bypass would be so many years off, but something needs to be done short-term.”
VicRoads has previously touted traffic lights and a roundabout as interim solutions for the busy intersection.
Mr Brown said the estimated number of commercial vehicles was the only surprising result to come out of the traffic count.
“I would’ve thought it would’ve been more … but even 10 per cent if you extrapolated that over a year, that’s a lot of trucks,” he said.
Mr Brown, like many Kooweerup residents, is hopeful the State Government will respond to continuous community lobbying by allocating funds for a bypass in its coming budget.
The long-awaited project is expected to cost about $14 million.
Members of the Kooweerup Township Committee have also written to the Federal Government seeking $6.5 million for a bypass.