State Opposition plans to turn Eltham’s Fitzsimons Lane roundabout into an underpass

A NOTORIOUS Eltham roundabout has been earmarked for removal and will be replaced with an underpass, if the opposition wins the November state election.

The Fitzsimons Lane roundabout would be shelved for an underpass, allowing traffic to flow “seamlessly” between Lower Plenty and Eltham, Liberal candidate for Eltham Nick McGowan said.

A NOTORIOUS Eltham roundabout has been earmarked for removal and will be replaced with an underpass, if the opposition wins the November state election.

Liberal candidate for Eltham Nick McGowan said the Fitzsimons Lane roundabout would be shafted for an underpass, allowing traffic to flow “seamlessly” between Lower Plenty and Eltham.

“Congestion is killing Eltham and our quality of life. It’s taking longer to get to work, longer to get home and that’s time we’re not spending with our families and those we care about,” Mr McGowan said.

The “congestion-busting policy” spruiked by the opposition would see 35 of Melbourne’s most congested roundabouts removed in the Liberal’s first term and 20 in their second.

Nick McGowan (Eltham) said congestion is “killing Eltham and our quality of life”.

Greensborough’s Civic Drive roundabout has been floated as an option in the second round.

The project would cost up to $5.3 billion create 5000 jobs during construction and would mostly be done by grade separations similar to rail line level crossing removals.

Eltham state Labor MP Vicki Ward said without a doubt work needed to be done to reduce pressure on Fitzsimons Lane but it must take into account the North East Link.

“We had $1.5 billion in last year’s budget for VicRoads to go out and do proper planning on how we can fix Fitzsimons Lane,” Ms Ward said.

“It has to be responsive to the North East Link being built because you don’t want to be spending money on infrastructure that will become redundant once it’s complete.”

(Yan Yean state Labor MP Danielle Green, Ivanhoe state Labor MP Anthony Carbines, Premier Daniel Andrews, Eltham state Labor MP Vicki Ward and Roads Minister Luke Donnellan.

Nillumbik Mayor Peter Clarke “wholeheartedly” supports the move and said the State Government should “bite the bullet and get on with removing these dangerous intersections”.

“These roundabouts may have been appropriate 10 years ago, however, they are no longer coping with the massive traffic volumes travelling through them every day,” Cr Clarke said.

“Both roundabouts cause significant delays in the morning and evening peak and are putting people’s lives at risk.”

Roads Minister Luke Donnellan previously told News Corp the opposition’s policy was “half baked”.

“It’s no use getting a grade separation happening that results in a pinch point 500 to 600 metres down the road,” Mr Donnellan said.

“There is not a policy announcement on how they are going to deal with the level crossing down the road, the next set of traffic lights down the road. This will cost a lot of money.”

@Britt_Shanahan