Countdown on bypass

Council workers put traffic counters out on Rossiter Road, Station Street and Sybella Avenue at the start of February and the results are now being analysed.
Members of the Kooweerup township committee have done their own counts and estimate that about 70 trucks – more than one a minute – rumble through the town each hour.
Cardinia Shire chief executive Garry McQuillan said the results of the traffic count would be included in an advocacy report to VicRoads.
The report is part of the council’s push to bring forward the long-awaited project.
The Kooweerup bypass is the Cardinia Shire Council’s number one priority for road funding.
It has been the council’s top issue in terms of lobbying for the past 18 months, including the 2007 federal election.
The council is seeking a 50–50 contribution from State and Federal governments to fund the project. Government funds are yet to be secured.
In Parliament last week Eastern Victoria MP Edward O’Donohue implored Roads and Ports Minister Tim Pallas to provide funding for the bypass as a matter of urgency.
“(The) Kooweerup township has to some degree lost its country feel as a result of the significant number of trucks that travel through it each day,” he said.
Mr O’Donohue also asked Mr Pallas to clarify and decide on a route for the bypass and to identify the need for Healesville-Kooweerup Road to be upgraded.