Rat run relief

By Shaun Inguanzo
NOBLE Park’s busiest intersections will receive a $1 million upgrade after residents raised fears the EastLink project would turn local roads into rat-runs.
The news comes as the Southern and Eastern Integrated Transport Authority (SEITA) announced it would launch a final investigation into linking the new Heatherton Road fly-over to the Princes Highway.
The $1million announced by Mulgrave MP Daniel Andrews last week will upgrade the already-busy intersections of Heatherton and Gladstone Roads, Heatherton and Chandler Roads, Princes Highway and Chandler Road, and Princes Highway and Gladstone Road.
Works will include widening, new asphalt, new line marking and improving traffic signals.
Mr Andrews said the funding would help combat any congestion at those intersections caused by Heatherton Road’s separation from the Princes Highway.
“These upgrades will become even more important when EastLink opens and Heatherton Road becomes a flyover across the Princes Highway,” he said.
The Star revealed in June that Noble Park residents and Greater Dandenong council had formed a study group to combat the influx of motorists who would be forced to use smaller roads and streets to access Princes Highway after access is removed from Heatherton Road.
Springvale North Ward councillor Alan Gordon, a member of the study group, said the $1 million was more than anyone expected and was great news for residents living nearby.
“It’s a positive step in the right direction,” he said.
“If the upgrades help improve traffic flow then it is a much-appreciated move by the state MP, he’s obviously gone away and done his homework.”
But Cr Gordon said residents were still hopeful a solution was in the works that would link Heatherton Road directly to the Princes Highway.
SEITA spokesman Matt Phelan said works at the intersections would begin within two to three weeks and, weather permitting, be completed by mid-November.
He said the investigation to connect the fly-over to the Princes Highway would be completed in the next few months. “It has proved extremely difficult to find a solution,” he said.
“It was not included in the 1998 Environmental Effects Statement and it wasn’t part of ConnectEast’s design but it has been raised countless times by the community, by Daniel Andrews and by council.
“It will be difficult but SEITA will do everything within its power to make this a reality for the community.”