Truganina residents are raising concerns over an upcoming 60-day road closure, with commuters ‘stressed’ about increased travel times.
Kirkpatrick Boulevard – between Hopkins Road and McKinley Drive in Truganina – will be closed from Monday, October 6 for about 60 days, weather permitting, for developer works to construct a new roundabout.
Commuters will be able to detour via Grand Boulevard and Clara Avenue.
Mt Atkinson Advocacy Forum group member Jaksha Shah said that she has several concerns about the upcoming closure.
“Mount Atkinson doesn’t have a bus, doesn’t have a train station – so the only way to go out is by road … so closing such a major street down, it affects us to get our groceries, because it takes 40 minutes to get our groceries,” Ms Shah said.
“[It is] one of the two roads that go out, and we use this road extensively to do school pickups and drops … there’s school holidays going on – they could have used that but they haven’t,” she said.
“The biggest stress for me is groceries and towing my kids around for long times in school pick up and drops … they need to think about an alternative way to do this.
“Everything should have been done yesterday when it comes to Mount Atkinson.”
She said that it is the only road that takes residents to nearby gyms and is concerned about impacts to wellbeing and living standards.
Ms Shah said she is also concerned about having a road in the estate closed to emergency services.
Melton director of city delivery Neil Whiteside said the council received a request from the developer to temporarily close the boulevard for the roundabout construction, which will enable delivery of a new road for a proposed homemaker centre.
“Council explored if the road could be kept open with lane closures, however for safety reasons temporarily closing the road was the only option,” Mr Whiteside said.
“It would also extend the project meaning works would not be completed before two new schools open on Clara Ave in early 2026,” he said.
“Council is currently seeking community feedback on the proposed traffic management plan and will work with the developer to minimise the impact on the community as much as possible.”
