Wednesday, 13 November 2024

Donnybrook Road duplication

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (18:45): (1285) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Transport Infrastructure, and the action that I seek is for the minister to prioritise the safety of Donnybrook and Kalkallo residents by urgently duplicating Donnybrook Road on the eastern side of the Hume Freeway and also exploring and planning alternative entrance and exit routes for all estates on Donnybrook Road.

Donnybrook Road, east of the Hume Freeway on Melbourne’s northern fringe, is typical of the failure of this Labor government to adequately plan for the needs of residents in new housing developments. The eastern side of Donnybrook Road stands in stark contrast to the western side of the freeway in Merrifield. On the west of the freeway the road is a magnificent four-lane road separated by a wide median strip. Of course this is an area that was planned and developed by the Liberal planning minister Matthew Guy. But on the eastern side, in an area planned and developed by Labor, the road is still a single-lane country road struggling to cope with the growing demand created by new housing developments in the City of Hume and the City of Whittlesea. To add to the problem, the flyover bridge over the freeway is also single lane and is causing significant problems as traffic trying to exit the freeway to travel east on Donnybrook Road is backed up for hundreds of metres and at times onto the freeway itself.

One of the greatest failures in planning is that all of these new estates along the eastern side of the freeway only have one entry and exit point, and that is via Donnybrook Road. Last week two trucks collided on Donnybrook Road by Serrata Avenue. Because Donnybrook road is only a single lane, the whole road was closed for hours, and residents in the housing estates were unable to return to their homes. One of the constituents contacted me afterwards with a heartbreaking message. Because of the truck crash and road closure she was stuck at the Epping Road roundabout with her toddler, unable to get home and breastfeed her baby, who was screaming at home. She then had to go to hospital with her toddler, who had become dehydrated after being stuck in a hot car for hours. This is just one example of the chaos caused by Labor’s complete mismanagement of suburban expansion in the northern growth areas. The lack of footpaths and narrow single-lane road means that it is unsafe for pedestrians and cyclists.

Currently the eastern side of Donnybrook Road services the Cloverton estate in the City of Hume and six estates in the City of Whittlesea, all with only the one entry and exit point, which is Donnybrook Road. Cloverton in the City of Hume currently has around 3150 dwellings and 10,000 residents but is expected to almost double to over 18,000 residents. In the City of Whittlesea six housing estates currently have around 3740 completed homes, but that is less than a quarter of the projected 15,701 homes planned to be developed in the 17 estates on this section of Donnybrook Road, which are expected to house over 45,000 residents. The additional homes and residents will place additional pressure on a road that is already failing to meet the needs of existing residents. The Allan Labor government has abandoned these people, happy to collect taxes from them but not willing to put in the basic road and transport infrastructure they desperately need.