BENDIGO’S business leaders have called for urgent action to ease the city’s traffic woes and to immediately start planning for a link to take passing cars and trucks out of the CBD.
In August, 2006, the City of Greater Bendigo council and VicRoads began the Bendigo Transportation Study, to discover Bendigo’s traffic infrastructure needs for the next 20 years.
That was due to be completed within a year, but is not expected to be finished until some time in 2009, more than 12 months behind schedule.
In the meantime, the council has also not made public a report written by former councillor and senior VicRoads manager Bruce Phillips about the available options.
Disquiet about the study’s delay is building across the business sector, and some councillors and politicians have also expressed behind-the-scenes concern at the time the study has taken.
The Bendigo +25 Future Search conference in April 2006 highlighted a new road to connect the Calder and McIvor highways as a key priority.
An eastern distributor ring road was once seen as a solution, but it has almost been dismissed as having little benefit to the city and has faced strong opposition from community and environmental groups.
Bendigo +25 Reference Group chairman and businessman Don Erskine said things needed to happen soon.
“Bendigo’s population is expected to grow by up to 50 per cent in the next 20 years,” he said.
“One of the major issues in the transport area that was highlighted by the community was the north-south link through Bendigo.
“The particular concerns are the choke at the Kangaroo Flat township with the completion of the Calder Freeway, the trucks roaring through the CBD and the single lane highway along Napier Street in White Hills.”
Mr Erskine said the community had sat back and watched authorities do nothing for too long.
“For many years there has been a reluctance to properly address the future requirements of this main arterial link,” he said.
“We have known for the past 20 years there will be a problem but there has been a reluctance from past authorities to address the future needs of this city.”
Mr Erskine said each day the transportation study was delayed was another lost opportunity to put planning options in place.
“There are solutions that may involve the use of railway and road reserves to the north and the south of the city,” he said.
“We have to look at the future and put planing overlays in place now to avoid gridlock.
“For this city to continue to grow and prosper, transport infrastructure is critical.
“We can’t sit on our hands for another 10 years and hope someone else will fix it.”
Bendigo Chamber of Commerce and Industries president Graeme Sloan agreed.
“This survey needs to be conducted and it needs to occur as soon as is practicable,” he said.
“We are going to have to base our future decisions on this information.
“I agree it needs to be completed as soon as possible and really we should be pushing as much as possible for it to be done as fast as it can.”
A council spokesperson said modelling work from VicRoads would not be available until later this year.
“This work is imperative for the rest of the study to be undertaken,” she said.