Bottleneck

By Jade Lawton
Member for Eastern Victoria, Edward O’Donohue, said the road needed to be significantly upgraded, and slammed the current improvements as inadequate and ad-hoc.
The State Government is spending $828,000 improving the road, adding a right-turn lane with an arrow and left-turn slip lane from Clyde Road to Kangan Drive under the Safer Roads Infrastructure Program.
The intersection has been the site of 11 casualty crashes in the past six years.
Gembrook MP Tammy Lobato said the additional right-turn lane would help reduce the number of crashes at the intersection, while the additional left-turn slip lane would also improve traffic flow.
“Reducing travel time on these roads will benefit more than 27,000 people who use it every day,” she said.
Mr O’Donohue said the RACV had long identified Clyde Road, between the Princes Highway and High street Berwick, as one of the worst bottlenecks in outer Melbourne.
“Sadly however, not only is it a traffic bottleneck it is also a dangerous bottleneck that has seen numerous crashes and accidents,” he said.
“While the signalisation at Enterprise Avenue and improved traffic treatments at the Kangan and Clyde Road intersection are welcome, they do not tackle the larger issues of the railway grade separation and duplication of Clyde Road through to High Street.”
Mr O’Donohue said traffic on Clyde Road would only increase with the opening of Nossal High School next year and he was disappointed that the government’s only response in the transport plan was a study.
Ms Lobato has previously called on the Minister for Roads and Ports, Tim Pallas, to prioritise planning as the first step towards the duplication of Clyde Road.