By Tara Murray
Melton council is following up daily on approvals to finally open the BrIdge Road extension near St. Francis Catholic College.
As reported by Star Weekly, the school has had to shorten school hours and is forking out nearly $700 a day on buses due to congestion.
The road had been unable to open due to no power.
A petition has been started by one parent saying that it’s not good enough.
In communication with parents, which has been seen by Star Weekly, the college made the call for year 7 students to finish 30 minutes earlier and year 8 students to finish 15 minutes early to try and stagger pick up times.
College principal Marlene Jorgensen submitted two questions to the Melton council meeting on Monday night.
She previously said the current situation is neither financially sustainable for the college nor conducive to student learning.
City delivery director Neil Whiteside said the council was continuing to work on solving the issue.
Powercor energised a service pit at Bridge Road in Melton on February 11 per schedule with the supply to the traffic signals completed the following day.
“Council understands not being able to open the Bridge Road extension has caused disruption to St Francis Catholic College and wider community and we apologise for causing any inconvenience,” Mr Whiteside said.
“Council officers are following up daily until approvals are received which are now in their final stages.
“Council officers recently installed a new temporary footpath from Ferris Road between the Cobblebank Village shopping centre and Bridge Road, to provide a further safe option for parents to drop their children off near the school.
“Council officers will continue to explore further options to mitigate congestion and improve accessibility and ensure regular communication with the school.”
Ms Jorgensen also questioned whether the new path was safe with the closest set of lights not in operation.
Mr Whiteside said that the additional footpath is only temporary until approvals have been received, enabling the open bridge road extension.”
