Brysons Rd Warrandyte residents call for speed limit cut while detour is in place
Residents on a quiet Warrandyte South road claim nearby roadworks have bought chaos to their doorsteps, with animals being hit, drivers speeding and relentless traffic.
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A Manningham woman threatened to cut down a tree to block speeding motorists tearing up her street because of detour works.
Leanne Torpey, who has lived on Brysons Rd in Warrandyte South for 25 years, said she had never seen the road so busy with residents struggling to back out of driveways.
She said she would have taken the drastic action to get the council to act.
“90 per cent of the problem is speeding drivers going over 60, or 70 or 80km/h,” she said.
“Tradies are leaving early with big trailers and excavators, it’s that loud everyone goes outside and wonders if something’s wrong.
“If school was back, the traffic would be a nightmare for everyone,” she said.
Neighbours want the speed limit reduced from 60 to 50km/h due to a surge in traffic and speeding drivers after upgrades began on Jumping Creek Rd late last month.
The works, which cost $1.5 million and are being funded and co-ordinated by Manningham Council, are being carried out on a 350m section between Ringwood-Warrandyte Rd and Nelson Drive.
The council is diverting traffic along Yarra Rd and Brysons Rd until the works are completed in August.
Ms Torpey claimed council workers came to install new reflective lights along the road 24 hours after she called with her concerns and threatened to cut down a tree and block it off.
“The road is not lit up enough as a detour for people who don’t know the road,” she said.
“They (the council) know it’s a problem so they’re trying to fix it, but the locals already know there’s certain to be a disaster if the community isn’t heard.”
Another resident, Kerrie Reid, also emailed Manningham Leader with her concerns about the amount of traffic on the road and speeding drivers.
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Ms Reid said children and elderly people no longer felt safe walking along the road.
“My elderly mother — resident of 70 years — is ‘too frightened’ to walk on the path outside her own home,” she wrote.
“Sadly at 87 this is her only exercise, of which she no longer wishes to do.”
Manningham Council director of city services Rachelle Quattrocchi said a change in speed limit on Brysons Rd would require approval from the Department of Transport, which did not support a change based on preliminary advice.
Ms Quattrocchi said the council had recieved feedback from 11 community members about the issues on Brysons Rd and had installed more road signs, reflective markers and warnings for drivers in response to the feedback.
“The traffic measures have been implemented following monitoring of traffic detours and have been factored the overall project budget as part of the traffic management allowances for this upgrade,” she said.
Ms Quattrocchi said the council would continue to monitor Brysons Rd closely and work with police “where required” to enforce its 60km/h speed limit.