Bypass at the crossroads

CASEY Council has embarked on an ambitious, but necessary campaign to divert heavy transport from High Street, Cranbourne.
The campaign is long overdue, but more so the bypass that should have been provided years ago is long overdue.
These days it is an accepted norm that 25 tonne trucks and larger Bdoubles do not go thundering through shopping centres.
The bypass will also be a vital asset to lighter traffic wanting to get through to the metropolitan area.
People have complained to me about trucks already bypassing Cranbourne along the Kooweerup Pakenham Road, and Clyde Road.
Both these roads are unsuitable for heavy transport, but do offer an alternative.
VicRoads has persistently said that the Clyde Road route would become the Cranbourne Bypass.
However, transport managers say the Clyde Road route will send trucks north of Dandenong when many have a prime destination to the large industrial area well to Dandenong’s south.
By using the Casey preferred route from the South Gippsland Highway along Cameron Street near the racecourse, Narre Warren Cranbourne Road, and across to rejoin the highway near Clairmont Avenue just south of Thompsons Road, traffic would be within reach of the Dandenong South precinct.
This seems logic to me.
Massive amounts of heavy traffic heading for Dandenong South would also be taken away from the Kooweerup and Clyde Roads.
With the three routes upgraded and in train and the Pakenham Bypass working, people in the further southeast can expect a choice of routes and a good run to the metropolitan area as well as fairly free passage within the region.
My view is that because of the VicRoads preferred choice of Clyde Road as a Cranbourne bypass Casey is in for a lively tussle over where the primary Cranbourne bypass road should go.
The council will probably lose the argument.