VicRoads denies turning arrow is missing at Croydon North’s Exeter Rd following $8 million upgrade
It cost $8 million and was finished two months late — now a regular user reckons VicRoads forgot to put a turning arrow back in at a busy Croydon North intersection.
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VicRoads has denied a driver’s claims it forgot to reinstall a turning arrow and that its $8 million intersection upgrade in Croydon North has increased congestion.
Traders told Maroondah Leader last month they lost thousands of dollars a week during upgrades to the Maroondah Highway, Dorset Rd, Exeter Rd and Bellara Drive intersection.
The project, which was completed two months late, involved realigning the Exeter Rd left-turn slip lane from Maroondah Highway.
Croydon North’s Russell Bates wrote to Maroondah Leader saying the upgrades had increased the bank up of traffic on Exeter Rd, as those wanting to turn left onto the highway could now only do so by merging onto the service road.
Mr Bates labelled the project “an $8 million stuff-up” as Exeter Rd’s left-turn arrow at the intersection had also been removed.
He emailed Deakin federal Liberal MP Michael Sukkar with his concerns but felt he was “given the political run-around” with his response.
“The reality is that our missing green arrow has caused big traffic congestion in Exeter Rd during busy times and on weekends and $8 million dollars seems a lot of money to remove a left-turn arrow,” Mr Bates said.
Department of Transport spokeswoman Lauren Hilbert said the turning arrow at the Exeter Rd lights was not required in the new intersection’s design.
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“The new upgrade provides motorists the ability to turn onto Maroondah Highway from Exeter Rd via the service road when it is safe to do so, rather than waiting for a green arrow,” she said.
Readers on Maroondah Leader’s Facebook page had mixed reactions to the changes at Exeter Rd.
Lucy Le Riche said she was now “really confused” while Jason Fabre said the light sequence hadn’t changed and called for “an extra 10 seconds in the green”.
But Eleonore Smith said she hadn’t had any issues and Andrew Hobley said he hadn’t seen “traffic back up 100s of metres during the peaks like I used to”.
Ms Hilbert said the orientation of the service road was altered to improve visibility.
She said an independent road safety auditor didn’t identify any issues with sightlines or safety at its exit point prior to construction.
Ms Hilbert said VicRoads had visited the intersection at least seven times in peak hour and had not noticed increased congestion since the upgrades.
Mr Sukkar was contacted for comment.