Melton residents have been writing into the Fix Our Road campaign to share stories about hours spent commuting and stuck in traffic – and the impact this has on their lives.
The lack of local jobs and irregular crowded public transport and the poor standard of highways across the municipality mean locals are commuting long hours.
Poor transport options have led to high car dependency with 85 per cent of weekday trips and 93 per cent of weekend trips being made by car.
New research from Melton council has revealed that Melton residents take more than 60,000 car trips a day just to get to work, and almost all of these are by car.
Melton resident Stephanie Thorpe said, “how do you have time to lead a life when you’re stuck in a car 20 hours a week just to get to work?”
“That’s 20 hours of missed time with kids, missed socialising, missed unwinding.
“How do you get dinner on the table at a reasonable hour or make sure the kids are picked up from childcare at a reasonable hour?”
Another long-time Melton local Kerrie-Ann Hovey has lived in Melton for nearly 40 years.
“My husband’s drive to work would take 30 minutes,” she said.
“Now he leaves at 5am to avoid the traffic jam but can’t avoid it on his way home.
“He spends over an hour in traffic every afternoon.”
Melton mayor Goran Kesic said that residents are facing long commutes, less time spent with families and driving on roads which are in urgent need of being upgraded.
“The longer we spend in the car going to work and back every day is time away from our families, our friends, and away from doing the things we enjoy the most,” he said.
“We launched Fix Our Roads earlier this year calling on all major parties and candidates to commit to upgrading these key roads. We just want our residents to have the quality of life others around our city get.”
Details: fixourroads.com.au
