Hume’s busy roads drive people mad, sparking calls for improvements

HUNDREDS of thousands of extra cars and more than 40 minutes to get out of a school driveway: congestion in Melbourne’s northwest is pushing roads to breaking point.

Traffic congestion on Springvale and Ferntree Gully Roads in Melbourne's eastern suburbs.

URGENT calls have been made to alleviate congestion across Hume with development pushing the city’s roads to breaking point.

Hume Council has hastened its call for duplication of Mickleham, Somerton and Craigieburn roads, with data revealing a rise in traffic along the three ­arterials.

Mayor Adem Atmaca said congestion was getting worse each day.

“Large sections of these roads are single-lane carriageways that were built when the area was predominantly rural, but that’s not the case anymore,” he said.

Council data indicates more than 27,000 vehicles use Somerton Rd between Roxburgh Park Drive and Aitken Blvd each day, 47 per cent more than 12 years ago.

Craigieburn Rd sees more than 27,000 cars travelling between Bridgewater and Hanson roads daily, an increase of 73 per cent in the east and 146 per cent in the west during the past decade.

Traffic on Mickleham Rd, north of Somerton Rd, has skyrocketed 38 per cent in the past two years, with more than 20,000 cars using the road each day.

Aitken College principal Josie Crisara said increased traffic on Mickleham Rd due to housing developments was creating congestion at the school’s intersection.

“What was a 15-minute peak (period) to turn left out of the college has now extended to close to 40 minutes,” she said.

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Visiting Mickleham last week for the launch of Merrifield’s $1.2 billion business precinct, Premier Daniel Andrews said the government would play its part to ensure the mixed-use development had the appropriate infrastructure and services.

On connectors such as Mickleham and Donnybrook roads, he said the northern suburbs had received a “fair share” of help through the government’s $1 billion fund for roads in outer suburbs under Project 10,000, though they relied on the Federal Government to “step up”.

But Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said it was “just talk” with no projects allocated.

He said the scrapped Works in Kind scheme brought in during his time as Planning Minister was set up to ensure developers contributed to new or existing roads.

Projects under consideration included an upgraded Donnybrook interchange and new freeway interchange at Beveridge, Mr Guy said.

“Works in Kind would help hugely places like the Hume growth corridor,” he said.

“There is no doubt that infrastructure isn’t keeping pace with population growth.”

Greens planning spokeswoman Samantha Dunn said public transport also needed to be factored in.

Meanwhile, a petition started by resident Jim Overend is calling for Craigieburn Rd to be widened and intersections upgraded.

Yuroke state Labor MP Ros Spence said Somerton, Mickleham and Craigieburn roads were an “absolute ­priority”.

She said there was a ­report being compiled on Craigieburn Rd by the council and VicRoads, and hoped to see a solution out of it that would make the road safer and free-flowing.

VicRoads metro north west regional director Vince Punaro said the three arterials would be considered as part of Project 10,000.

He said improvements would be made “progressively as Hume’s population grows”, but they would continue to monitor and make short-term improvements such as intersection upgrades, road safety treatments and section widening.