Road’s fate in residents’ hands

By Shaun Inguanzo
RESIDENTS of a Keysborough road will have the final say on whether or not it is sealed, and how.
Greater Dandenong Council will next week vote on whether or not to commence a period of consultation between residents of the unsealed Keys Road and council officers.
Keysborough South Ward councillor Peter Brown said residents would have three choices in determining the fate of their road. The first, he said, would be to seal Keys Road as a one-way street at the cost of $330,000, which the council would pay for in its 2008-09 budget.
The other is to seal Keys Road as a bi-directional street at the cost of $2.2 million, which Cr Brown said would require financial contributions from the road’s 44 property owners. The third option is to leave the road unsealed but rely on using drinking water as a dust suppressant – a move Cr Brown said was unsustainable given water restrictions.
“In my mind it is better to have Keys Road one-way,” Cr Brown said.
The one-way option would allow residents to travel east along Keys Road towards Perry Road, but would not allow traffic to turn from Perry Road onto Keys Road.
“When that area east of Perry Road is rezoned industrial there will be an awful lot of traffic down there,” Cr Brown said. “By having Keys Road for local traffic and no access off Perry Road, it would ensure Keys Road remains a private road.”
But it will be residents who decide the road’s fate, with councillors voting solely to initiate the community consultation period – not to decide which option is the best.