Growing Pains applauded

DANDENONG business has welcomed an RACV call for road duplications, rail and taxi rank upgrades and new bus services for the City of Greater Dandenong.
The RACV last week released the Growing Pains report – a transport blueprint for outer Melbourne and Geelong – and urged the State Government to address the transport challenges facing residents.
“People in these areas are battling daily with overcrowded public transport and congested roads as the squeeze increases resulting in disconnected communities,” RACV public transport and mobility manager Thanuja Gunatillake said.
Committee for Dandenong, representing some of Greater Dandenong’s most significant businesses, said road congestion had caused pain for too many businesses for too long.
“Business growth is restricted and our capacity to be significant contributors to Victoria’s Gross Domestic Product is severely impacted,” chairman Gary Castricum said.
He said Greater Dandenong business was critically important to Victoria’s growth and financial sustainability – the area generated almost $30 billion in economic output last year.
“To maintain these levels of output, we need to get employees to and from work and have an ability to efficiently transport raw product and manufactured goods,” he said.
Growing Pains followed consultation with local and State Government agencies and found the need to duplicate Thompson Road between Dandenong-Frankston Road and South Gippsland Highway at a cost of $110 million.
It recommended constructing and duplicating Glasscocks Road between Dandenong-Frankston Road and Clyde Road for $170 million and said the Dandenong Rail Corridor needed level crossings removed and upgrades.
It also called for an $80 million Dingley bypass from the South Gippsland Highway to South Gippsland Freeway, new bus services to the Keysborough South and Dandenong South industrial area, and taxi rank upgrades at Springvale and Noble Park train stations.
The report found about a third of all containers arriving in the Port of Melbourne ended up in the south-east.
Container traffic is forecast to quadruple in volume, helped by the upgrade of the port at Hastings, so rail will need to play a larger role in moving freight to minimise the impacts on road congestion.
The report said significant delays were occurring because the arterial road network lacked capacity and connectivity, and removing level crossings along the Dandenong Rail Corridor would eliminate major chokepoints.
Cross-town access by public transport is poor despite most workers living locally or in neighbouring municipalities.
The report said that improved bus services, the Thompson Road duplication and the Glasscocks Road improvements would address the problem.
Visit racvgrowingpains.com.au for more information.