Melbourne’s worst major roads for school traffic delays

The school trip can take 10 times longer than when school is out, with one of Melbourne’s worst routes blowing out from 30 seconds to 7 minutes. Is your daily drive one of the worst?

CityLink aimed to make trips quicker – but there is one particular stretch of the toll road that suffers delays during the school term. Picture: David Caird

With Victorian children heading back to the classroom this week, new data reveals school traffic can make trips more than 10 times longer on some major roads.

Traffic tracker Intelematics’s latest research shows the school pick-up and drop-off has a “significant” impact on travel times across metropolitan Melbourne when compared with holiday periods.

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The figures revealed CityLink between Burnley and Kooyong, which could normally take 10 seconds to drive, could have delays making trips 1625 per cent longer during school peak hours.

School traffic added about 2.44 minutes to the average northwest-bound drive on the toll road when compared with the holiday period, Intelematics found.

Part of the Western Ring Rd is affected by extra traffic at school times.

A section of the Princes Freeway between Brooklyn and Laverton North that would take about 32 seconds during the school holiday peak, could blow out to more than seven minutes – an increase of 1354 per cent – during the term on that short stretch of road.

And delays on Fitzgerald Rd in Laverton became 846 per cent slower – or an added 1.18 minutes.

Intelematics sourced data from thousands of sensors on roads, in vehicles and infrastructure to best determine the delays.

The study focused on major roads for accuracy purposes and did not take into account congestion created on local streets around schools.

The study did not include school traffic impacts on local roads. Picture: Penny Stephens

Intelematics chief product officer Denise Christie said they had analysed the data to see what influenced traffic patterns and caused congestion.

“We all have a feeling that traffic is worse when school goes back and, in fact, those feelings are valid,” she said.

‘The thing to note as well is that these figures are for short sections of road, so what might

seems like a couple of minutes here and there, it does add up over the whole trip.”

She said Intelematics data, which is collected in real-time, could be used by councils and policymakers to better plan for the future and tackle congestion.

RACV transport and infrastructure senior manager Peter Kartsidimas said decision-makers needed to examine ways to ease Melbourne’s crippling and worsening transport congestion.

“RACV’s 2018 Red Spot results revealed that the morning and afternoon peak times have actually expanded under the pressure of growing numbers of drivers,” he said.

“To help ease congestion around school zones, RACV is encouraging parents to walk or cycle with their kids to school to support an active and healthy lifestyle.

“However, more needs to be done in providing viable alternatives to parents and schoolchildren, with RACV also calling for greater investment in public transport across the city and outer suburbs.”

University of Melbourne transport engineering expert Majid Sarvi said it was no surprise traffic congestion increased during the school term – particularly on local roads – and school holiday periods could also see many workers taking leave and not using their cars.

“There are some areas across the network where an increase in traffic of even the smallest percentage can push areas over the edge in terms of congestion,” he said.

While there are road infrastructure projects happening across Melbourne, Prof Sarvi said a lot of them were just “catching up” to what was needed.

He said authorities needed to be smarter and use technology to maximise the existing transport systems, and better integrate roads and public transport networks.

Transport Department spokesman Stuart Fletcher said the State Government was investing in roads projects to reduce congestion and boost safety across Melbourne.

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The $4 billion Suburban Roads Upgrade aimed to add lanes and clear bottlenecks on 20 of Melbourne’s most important arterial roads.

“With the return of school and school speed zones, we’re asking drivers to slow down and be alert, because even a small reduction in speed can dramatically increase the chance of a child surviving being hit by a car,” Mr Fletcher said.