Lee Point: Locals react to proposal for a roundabout replacement at Vanderlin Drive and Lee Point Rd

Locals have reacted to the proposal to replace the popular Vanderlin Drive and Lee Point Rd roundabout. HAVE YOUR SAY

A PROPOSAL for a new intersection upgrade for a busy northern suburbs roundabout has sparked controversy among local residents.

The heavily-used Vanderlin Drive and Lee Point Rd “great roundabout of life” has been earmarked to be replaced with a four-way intersection with traffic lights.

CDU senior lecturer civil engineering Dr Anne NG said replacing the roundabout with traffic lights wasn’t going to solve the problem of traffic flow. “The roundabout is the best way to keep traffic flowing – a roundabout promotes continuous traffic flow,” Dr Ng said. “ … we want to keep traffic flowing.”

The roundabout at Vanderlin Dr and Lee Point Rd. Picture: Glenn Campbell

The Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics (DIPL) has released the final upgrade concept design for Stage 2 of consultations and are currently seeking community feedback.

The arguments detailed in favour of the change included it would hopefully reduce overall queue length and delays and deliver improvement for all road users, including cyclists and pedestrians.

“The justification doesn’t really focus on the safety of pedestrians but focuses on the vehicle capacity, that’s what they’re claiming ‘it has reached its capacity’,” Dr Ng said.

She questioned why DIPL would replace a cost-free intersection with “expensive” traffic lights which require “high cost and maintenance”.

“Why don’t we actually explore the alternative solutions and look at the upstream and downstream of Vanderlin Dr and change the traffic flow from that point of view,” she said.

According to DIPL, long queues have been observed on Vanderlin Dr, with minor queues on Lee Point Rd during peak hours at the roundabout.

Dr Ng said further studies on upstream and downstream of the intersection should be conducted to see what causes the main problems.

“We need to see more numbers to justify this, it’s not very transparent – and different simulations,” she said.

In a community consultation survey conducted in late 2020 by DIPL, more than 50 per cent of survey respondents said they tend to avoid the roundabout due to congestion and safety concerns.

DIPL could not provide statistics on how many people completed the survey but said they “continue to receive a healthy amount of feedback from the community”.

Lyons resident Shani Carson has used the roundabout for more than 10 years daily.

Ms Carson said the only times she experienced wait times or issues on the roundabout was if someone broke down during peak hour or if people used it incorrectly.

“When the consultation was first launched I made sure I went and popped my thoughts in because I truly didn’t want another set of lights on Lee Point Rd,” she said.

Ms Carson said the results of the consultation were disappointing, until she started to see people become vocal online and sharing the same views as herself.

“Roundabouts are safer than lights as any traffic incidents are at a lower speed, they improve traffic flow so you don’t have to stop for no reason,” she said.