Roads Minister to look at new route for Bulla Bypass

HUME Council is awaiting a new review by the State Government on where to best route the highly anticipated Bulla Bypass.

HUME Council awaits a new review by the State Government on where to best route the highly anticipated Bulla Bypass.

The key infrastructure project, part of a future Outer Metropolitan Ring Road, is the subject of Planning Scheme Amendment C190, submitted by ­VicRoads to Hume Council, a forerunner to a future planning application by the roads authority.

But correspondence sent to Hume Council and spoken about in last week’s Hume Council meeting details a ­review into the alignment of the road easement by Roads and Road Safety Minister Luke Donnelan.

The letter, from Planning Minister Richard Wynne, ­directs Mr Donnelan’s department to investigate the viability of duplicating Oaklands Rd as an alternative to breaking up properties.

The latest review comes as traffic congestion mounts on Sunbury Rd and the historic Bulla Rd bridge.

Hume Mayor Helen Patsikatheodorou said traffic had jumped 12.4 per cent in the last year there, representing 2693 extra vehicles a day travelling through Bulla.

“It’s getting worse, with a whopping 24,395 bikes, cars and trucks every day on the single lanes of Sunbury-Bulla Road,” she said.

“These vehicles must negotiate the narrow bridge which traverses across Deep Creek, and it can be a very dangerous commute for our families.”

It is expected that 14,000 more homes will be built to the east of Sunbury, and thousands of extra dwellings constructed along Lancefield and Sunbury roads.

Sunbury councillor Jack Medcraft said the build-up in traffic came as the Metropolitan Planning Authority’s Sunbury South Precinct Structure Plan was mapping out substantial residential growth to Sunbury’s south.

“As a council we have a responsibility to look after ratepayers and the best way we can is by pulling out all stops to make sure the bypass is fast tracked,” he said.

“But we will also be in a situation where developers will want to build.”

Cr Ann Potter said another look to avoid the breaking up of properties was reasonable, but maintained the sooner a decision was made the better.

The council has asked the State Government for the project to be funded as soon as 2017/18 and supports the National Growth Areas Alliance’s Fund Our Future campaign.