Brimbank council has endorsed a council campaign that will call on the state government to improve safety and traffic flow on Taylors Road, which has different sections owned by Brimbank council, Melton council and the state government.
Brimbank council said the “disjointed ownership” of the road makes it difficult to plan and coordinate upgrades to manage traffic congestion.
The endorsement will call on the state government to declare Taylors Road a state-managed arterial, and to duplicate a stretch of the road that runs from the west of Kings Road to Bluestone Walk.
At the August council meeting, Cr Katharine Nikolic said one resident told her “driving on this road is like driving in the wild west.”
“I’ve heard from residents living on this road that they’re not able to safely exit… I’ve also seen and heard of instances of reckless behavior, constant accidents and our emergency services getting bottlenecked at this section…” Cr Nikolic said.
“What has happened to date is really not fair — that the traffic is continually being bottlenecked from the growing estates around the Brimbank area that use this as a corridor all the way through to Melton. It’s not fair that if we were to fund something as a council that our ratepayers would have to brunt that.”
Cr Nikolic said Melton council partially funded sections of the road through developer contributions which Brimbank council did not have.
In a statement to Star Weekly, Melton mayor Cr Steve Abboushi said Melton council also wanted to see Taylors Road declared a state-managed arterial road.
“We are investing $51 million to upgrade Taylors Road, with projects either in construction or commencing in the next 12 months. However, this won’t cover all upgrades required and ultimately this road will need to be declared,” mayor Cr Abboushi said.
According to Melton council, the section of Taylors Road west of Gourlay Road carries approximately 22,000 vehicles per day with traffic modelling indicating this will increase to over 40,720 vehicles per day by 2031.
Melton council said traffic volumes on Taylors Road are already over capacity for a locally managed road.
Star Weekly contacted the state government for comment.
