By CASEY NEILL
A RECENT train crash has hammered home arguments for a level crossing bypass in Dandenong South.
A Cranbourne-bound train clipped a truck that had stopped just on the tracks at Greens Road in Dandenong South about 4.50pm on 7 August.
Greens Road was closed in both directions and train commuters faced 40-minute delays.
Committee for Dandenong is pushing for a toll road to bypass the nearby Abbotts Road level crossing to ease railway crossing congestion.
The crossing is well down the priority list for removal despite two deaths at the site in recent years.
A pay-for-use road between the two sections of Remington Drive, to link directly with Pound Road and the freeway, would sidestep the need for intense government funding and could fast-track the project.
Committee member Jill Walsh said this month’s incident had some drivers in gridlock for an hour and a half, and drilled home the need for alternative routes in the area.
“Considering the amount of trucks that we have to combine on our roads to move our goods around, we need clear and sustainable access,” she said.
“They’re just so under pressure at the moment that something’s got to be done.”
Ms Walsh said that in the past few months VicRoads had agreed to gather information on the number of vehicles using Abbotts Road.
“Once you get over a certain number of vehicles it becomes a priority road and VicRoads takes it over from council,” she said.
“I think the last count was 6000 a day on Abbotts.”
Ms Walsh said savings on the costs of large trucks sitting idle in traffic, late deliveries and missed meetings would outweigh a usage fee.
She said there were also environmental concerns associated with the traffic chaos, road rage risks and an emotional drain on workers.
“It’s an everyday problem and it’s only going to get worse,” she said.
The Committee for Dandenong is a community-based group of business people who are concerned with promoting Dandenong’s image.
